They're also called "group 1 verbs," among the three groups of verbs that exist in Japanese.
Endings
The godan verbs are classified according to their endings, according to the last kana 仮名 of the verb in base form. The possible endings are u う, ku く, gu ぐ, su す, tsu つ, nu ぬ, bu ぶ, mu む, and ru る. For example:- kau
買う
To buy. - kaku
書く
To write. - oyogu
泳ぐ
To swim. - asobu
遊ぶ
To have fun. To play. - sagasu
殺す
To kill. - katsu
勝つ
To win. - shinu
死ぬ
To die. - yomu
読む
To read. - kiru
切る
To cut.
Note that, in a verb like kanashimu 悲しむ, "to feel sad," the okurigana is ~shimu ～しむ, but the classification is a godan verb ending in ~mu ～む. We only care about the last syllable of the verb, not what comes after the kanji.
Conjugation
The conjugation of godan verbs varies according to the ending of the godan verb. For some verb forms, it's very systematic and easy to understand, but for a few ones, it's more complicated. Naturally, we'll start by learning the easy one first.First, let's take a lot at the conjugation of a godan verb ending in ~su ～す.
- ~sa ～さ
~so ～そ
mizenkei 未然形 - ~shi ～し
ren'youkei 連用形 - ~su ～す
shuushikei 終止形 - ~su ～す
rentaikei 連体形 - ~se ～せ
kateikei 仮定形, or izenkei 已然形. - ~se ～せ
meireikei 命令形
The rest of the verb forms are created by adding a suffix called a jodoushi 助動詞 or other auxiliaries to these six basic forms.
- korosu
殺す
To kill. (non-past form, predicative form, shuushikei, attributive form, rentaikei.) - koroshita
殺した
Killed. (past form.)- koroshitara
殺したら
If killed. (tara-form.) - koroshitari
殺したり
Killed and. (tari-form.)
- koroshitara
- korosanai
殺さない
To not kill. (negative form.)- korosanakatta
殺さなかった
Did not kill. (past negative form.)
- korosanakatta
- koroshi
殺し
Killing. (noun form, ren'youkei.)
To kill and. - koroshimasu
殺します
To kill. (polite form.)- koroshimashita
殺しました
Killed. (past polite form.) - koroshimasen
殺しません
To not kill. (negative polite form.)- koroshimasen deshita
殺しませんでした
Didn't kill. (past negative polite form.)
- koroshimasen deshita
- koroshimashita
- koroshite
殺して
Kill and. (te-form.) - koroshitai
殺したい
To want to kill. (desiderative tai-form.)- koroshitakatta
殺したかった
Wanted to kill. (past desiderative form.) - koroshitakunai
殺したくない
To not want to kill. (negative desiderative form.)- koroshitakunakatta
殺したくなかった
Didn't want to kill. (past negative desiderative form.)
- koroshitakunakatta
- koroshitakatta
- koroseru
殺せる
To be able to kill. (potential verb.)- korosenai
殺せない
To not be able to kill. (negative potential form.)
- korosenai
- korosareru
殺される
To be killed. (passive form.)
To be able to kill. (potential form.)- korosareta
殺された
To have been killed. (past passive form.)
- korosareta
- korosaseru
殺させる
To cause to kill. (causative form.)
To force [someone] to kill [someone].
To let [someone] kill [someone].- korosasenai
殺させない
To not let [someone] kill [someone]. (negative causative form.) - korosaserareru
殺させられる
To have been caused to kill. (passive causative form.)
To have been forced to kill [someone] by [someone].
To have been let kill [someone] by [someone].
- korosasenai
- korosou
殺そう
Let's kill. (volitional form.) - korose
殺せ
Kill. (imperative form, meireikei.) - koroshinasai
殺しなさい
Kill. (imperative nasai-form.) - koroseba
殺せば
If kill. (conditional ba-form.) - korosanu
殺さぬ
To not kill. (negative nu-form.)- korosaneba
殺さねば
If not kill. (conditional ba-form of nu-form.)
- korosaneba
- korosazu
殺さず
Without killing. (zu-form.)
The potential form of godan verbs is supposed to be the mizenkei, korosa~, plus the ~reru jodoushi, forming korosareru. However, in practice, the word koroseru is used instead for the potential form. This is a verb formed by slapping ~eru on the koros~ consonant-stem.
The jodoushi suffixed to the basic six forms can be conjugated into further complex forms. I include some of such forms above, but not all of them, since the same jodoushi always means the same thing.
For instance, the ~ta ～た jodoushi always means the past form of something: koroshita, korosanakatta, koroshimashita, korosareta, etc.
Besides the forms above, there are other forms created from auxiliary verbs and auxiliary adjectives.
Those that attach to the ren'youkei create compound words:
- koroshi-hajimeru
殺し始める
To start killing.- A compound verb, fukugou-doushi 複合動詞, with the auxiliary verb hajimeru, "to start."
- koroshi-yasui
殺しやすい
Easy to kill.- A compound adjective, fukugou-keiyoushi 複合形容詞, with the auxiliary adjective yasui, "easy."
The hojo-doushi 補助動詞 and hojo-keiyoushi 補助形容詞 are those that attach to the te-form.
- koroshite-iru
殺している
To be killing.- te-iru form.
- koroshite-oku
殺しておく
To kill [in preparation for something].- te-oku form.
- koroshite-ageru
殺してあげる
To kill [for someone].- ageru あげる auxiliary verb of giving.
- koroshite-kudasai
殺してください
Please kill [for me]..- kudasai ください auxiliary verb of requesting.
- koroshite-hoshii
殺してほしい
[I] want [you] to kill [someone].- hoshii ほしい auxiliary adjective.
With this we've covered pretty much all forms of a godan verb.
As you can see, the base form of the verb is korosu 殺す, ending with an ~u, but depending on the conjugation, the ending changes into sa-shi-su-se-so さしすせそ, before jodoushi and other auxiliaries are suffixed to it.
Note that the romaji of shi し is shi with an "h" in it. Don't mind that. It doesn't matter. In some romanization systems it's sa-si-su-se-so, just combining consonants and vowels, but in the Hepburn system it tries to approach the pronunciation, which is why it becomes an ungodly mess.
The important thing is that, when you lay out the kana 仮名 as a table, in the gojūon format, the vowels are assigned "columns," dan 段, and the consonants are assigned "rows," gyou 行. Observe:
- a-i-u-e-o
あいうえお - ka-ki-ku-ke-ko
かきくけこ - sa-shi-su-se-so
さしすせそ - ta-chi-tsu-te-to
たちつてと
So a godan verb is a verb whose six basic forms range across all "five columns," all five vowels. Why does this happen? Because the godan verb actually ends before the ~u. It ends at the consonant.
The consonant is the stem, it's the root which all other forms branch out from. This is true even though Japanese doesn't have a native way to spell out the consonant separate from the vowel. Observe:
- koros-u
- 殺す
To kill. - koros-i-tai (koroshitai)
殺したい
To want to kill. - koros-a-nai
殺さない
To not kill. - koros-o-u
殺そう
Let's kill. - koros-e-ru
殺せる
To be able to kill
All godan verbs follow this pattern, regardless of ending.
- kak-u
書く
To write. - kak-i-tai
書きたい
To want to write. - kak-a-nai
書かない
To not write. - kak-o-u
書こう
Let's write. - kak-e-ru
書ける
To be able to write.
- kat-u (katsu)
勝つ
To win. - kat-i-tai (kachitai)
勝ちたい
To want to win. - kat-a-nai
勝たない
To not win. - kat-o-u
勝とう
Let's win. - kat-e-ru
勝てる
To be able to win.
Therefore, although godan verbs can end in u う, ku く, gu ぐ, su す, tsu つ, nu ぬ, bu ぶ, mu む, and ru る, you don't need to memorize each conjugation of each ending. You just need to memorize one of them, like su す, and the rest will follow the same pattern.
For example, say you want to conjugate yomu 読む, "to read," to its negative form, and you know that the negative of korosu 殺す is korosanai 殺さない, with an ~a plus ~nai, You can guess the negative form of yomu 読む will be yomanai 読まない, "to not read," with an ~a plus ~nai, too.
That's pretty much the gist of it, however, unfortunately, it's not so simple. There are few things to watch out for.
Past Form and Te-Form
The past form and the te-form of most godan verbs are affected by all sorts of changes of pronunciation, according to the ending of the verb.Grammatically, the past form is composed of the ren'youkei form plus the ~ta ～た jodoushi, while the te-form is the same thing, but with the ~te ～て jodoushi instead. This ren'youkei form is the one that ends in ~i.
For the ~su ～す ending, it works as you would expect:
- korosu, koroshita
殺す, 殺した - Replace ~ta by ~te and you get koroshite 殺して, the te-form.
This is the only ending that works as you would expect.
For the ~ku ～く ending, a change happens:
- kaku, kaki-ta, kaita
書く, 書きた, 書いた
This is called i-onbin イ音便, because ki き becomes i い. Basically, if you say kaki-ta 書きた very fast, you end up skipping the consonant of ki き, and pronouncing it as just i い. In modern Japanese there's no kaki-ta 書きた, it's always kaita 書いた, with the i-onbin already applied.
There are other kinds of onbin 音便 that apply to the ren'youkei form of godan verbs. In any of them, the term onbinkei 音便形 refers to the modified ren'youkei. For example, kaki 書き is the normal ren'youkei, while kai~ 書い～ is an onbinkei.
For the ~gu ～ぐ ending, the i-onbin also happens.
- oyogu, oyogi-ta, oyoida
泳ぐ, 泳ぎた, 泳いだ
Note that ~gi ～ぎ has a dakuten 濁点 (゛). That means it's a voiced syllable. When it turns into i い, that vocalization has to go somewhere, and it ends up in the ~ta ～た jodoushi, turning it into ~da ～だ.
This process, which turns ~ta ～た into ~da ～だ, is called renjoudaku 連声濁, and it applies to the te-form, too, changing ~te ～て into ~de ～で.
That is, the past form of kaku 書く is kaita 書いた. The te-form is kaite 書いて. The past form of oyogu 泳ぐ is oyoida 泳いだ. The te-form is oyoide 泳いで. The dakuten of the past form always matches the te-form and vice-versa.
For the ~bu ～ぶ ending, since it has a dakuten, too, renjoudaku happens, too. However, instead of i-onbin, the ~bu ending undergoes hatsuonbin 撥音便, which adds the nasal vowel n ん, which is called a hatsuon 撥音.
- asobu, asobi-ta, asonda
遊ぶ, 遊びた, 遊んだ- asonde 遊んで
This same nasal hatsuonbin happens with the n-m sounds in ~nu ～ぬ endings and ~mu ～む endings. Although there's no dakuten in this case, renjoudaku happens anyway, probably because of the n ん sound.
- yomu, yomi-ta, yonda
読む, 読みた, 読んだ- yonde 読んで
- shinu, shini-ta, shinda
死ぬ, 死にた, 死んだ- shinde 死んで
The rest of the godan verbs, ending in ~ru ～る, ~u ～う, ~tsu ～つ, undergo sokuonbin 促音便, which adds a sokuon 促音, represented by the small tsu っ, which means a double consonant, also called a geminate consonant.
- kiru, kiri-ta, kitta
切る, 切りた, 切った- kitte 切って
- kau, kai-ta, katta
買う, 買いた, 買った- katte 買って
- katsu, kachi-ta, katta
勝つ, 勝ちた, 勝った- katte 勝って
The conjugation rules above govern practically all godan verbs.
The only exception is the verb iku 行く, "to go," which doesn't conjugate like other ~ku ～く ending godan verbs. It doesn't get i-onbin. If it got i-onbin, it would become iita いいた, which sounds pretty weird.
Instead, iku gets sokuonbin, making it homonymous in certain forms with the verb iu 言う, "to say."
- iku, itta
行く, 行った
To go. Went.- itte 行って
- iu, itta
言う, 言った
To say. Said.- itte 言って
Here's a chart showing the conjugation:
Source: japanesewithanime.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)
In general, the onbinkei forms apply only to the past form, the te-form, and its related forms. It doesn't apply to everything that needs a ren'youkei.
For example, the conditional tara-form has the ~tara ～たら jodoushi, which is derived from the ~ta ～た jodoushi. Consequently, when ~ta ～た is ~da ～だ, ~tara ～たら becomes ~dara ～だら.
- kattara
勝ったら
If won. - shindara
死んだら
If died.
More exactly, it seems ~ta ～た comes from ~taru ～たる, which comes from ~te-aru ～てある.
Since this ~te would become ~de, ~ta also becomes ~da. Another related word is the ren'youkei form of ~taru, ~tari ～たり, which becomes ~dari ～だり.
- kattari
勝ったり
Win and. - shindari
死んだり
Die and.
On the other hand the desiderative tai-form has the ~tai ～たい jodoushi, which, despite starting with ~ta, is NOT related to ~ta ～た jodoushi. It's instead related to an older ~tashi ～たし jodoushi.
Since it isn't related to ~ta, or ~te, it doesn't become ~dai ～だい, and it doesn't use the distorted onbinkei, it uses the normal ren'youkei, ending in ~i.
- kachitai
勝ちたい
To want to win. - shinitai
死にたい
To want to die.
Polite Form
The normal way to conjugate a godan verb to polite form is simply the ren'youkei suffixed by the ~masu ～ます jodoushi.- kachimasu
勝ちます
To win. (polite.) - shinimasu
死にます
To die. (polite.)
The verbs gozaru ござる, nasaru なさる, kudasaru くださる, ossharu おっしゃる, and irassharu いらっしゃる, undergo i-onbin when suffixed by ~masu.
- gozaimasu
ございます
To be. (polite.) - nasaimasu
なさいます
To do. (polite.) - kudasaimasu
くださいます
To give. (polite.) - osshaimasu
おっしゃいます
To say. (polite.) - irasshaimasu
いらっしゃいます
To go. (polite.)
To come. (polite.)
The expression irasshaimase いらっしゃいませ, used to welcome someone in a store, is the imperative of irasshaimasu.
The auxiliary kudasai, often translated to "please," is an abbreviation of the imperative kudasaimase.
～う Ending
The godan verbs with ~u ～う ending work a bit different from the rest. Instead of a-i-u-e-o あいうえお, its five columns are wa-i-u-e-o わいうえお. Observe:- ka-u
買う
To buy, - ka-i-tai
買いたい
To want to buy. - ka-wa-nai
買わない
To not buy. - ka-o-u
買おう
Let's buy. - ka-e-ru
買える
To be able to buy.
It's easier to imagine it's actually wa-wi-wo-we-wo, but wu just sounds like u, wo like o, wi like i, and we like e.
That's because, indeed, in modern Japanese wo を is pronounced exactly like o お. And it's only used in the wo を particle.
There used to be kana 仮名 for wi ゐ and we ゑ, but these characters were pronounced exactly like i い and e え in modern Japanese. They were redundant, so the Japanese government got rid of them.
～る Ending
Verbs ending in ~u ～う, ~ku ～く, ~su ～す, etc. are always godan verbs, but verbs ending in ~ru ～る aren't always godan verbs. For example:- kiru
切る
To cut.- A godan verb.
- kiru
着る
To wear.- An ichidan verb
Naturally, verbs that aren't godan verbs don't conjugate like godan verbs. And thus everything that's written in this article becomes irrelevant with them.
- kitta
切った
Cut. (past form.) - kita
着た
Wore. (past form.)- Note how there's sokuon っ in the ichidan verb.
So there are godan verbs and ichidan verbs that end with ~ru ～る, and they're conjugated differently.
Besides these, the verbs suru する, "to do," and kuru 来る, "to come," which also end in ~ru ～る, are kind of irregular, since they are neither godan nor ichidan, and are conjugated according in an unique way.
Besides those, you should also watch out for the verb of existence aru ある, which is a godan verb for the most part, except that its negative form isn't ar-a-nai あらない, it's just nai ない.
No comments: