For example, in yomanai 読まない, "doesn't read," and yomareru 読まれる, "to be read," the yoma~ 読ま～ is the mizenkei of yomu 読む, "to read."
Conjugation
For reference, how to conjugate the mizenkei:| ~(sa)seru ~(ra)reru | ~nu (~n) ~zu | ~nai | ~(yo)u | |
| Irregular Verbs | ||||
| kuru くる | ko~ こ～ | |||
| suru する | sa~ さ～ | se~ せ～ | shi~ し～ | |
| Godan Verbs | ||||
| kau 買う | kawa~ 買わ～ | kao~ 買お～ | ||
| kaku 書く | kaka~ 書か～ | kako~ 書こ～ | ||
| oyogu 泳ぐ | oyoga~ 泳が～ | oyogo~ 泳ご～ | ||
| korosu 殺す | korosa~ 殺さ～ | koroso~ 殺そ～ | ||
| katsu 勝つ | kata~ 勝た～ | kato~ 勝と～ | ||
| shinu 死ぬ | shina~ 死な～ | shino~ 死の～ | ||
| asobu 遊ぶ | asoba~ 遊ば～ | asobo~ 遊ぼ～ | ||
| yomu 読む | yoma~ 読ま～ | yomo~ 読も～ | ||
| kiru 切る | kira~ 切ら～ | kiro~ 切ろ～ | ||
| Ichidan Verbs | ||||
| kiru 着る | ki~ 着～ | |||
| taberu 食べる | tabe~ 食べ～ | |||
| Adjectives | ||||
| kawaii 可愛い | kawaikaro~ 可愛かろ～ | |||
| kirei na 綺麗な | kirei daro~ 綺麗だろ～ | |||
| Jodoushi 助動詞 | ||||
| masu ます | mase~ ませ～ | masho~ ましょ～ | ||
| desu です | desho~ でしょ～ | |||
Note that different jodoushi 助動詞 suffixes use different forms, but they're all called mizenkei. For example, yomou 読もう, "let's read," is the mizenkei yomo~ plus the jodoushi ~u.
Also note that for ichidan verbs, the mizenkei is identical to other forms, and whether it's mizenkei or not depends on the suffix. For example: tabenai 食べない, "to not eat," has the mizenkei tabe~, but in tabetai 食べたい, "want to eat," the tabe~ is the ren'youkei 連用形 instead.
Usage
For reference, which suffixes the mizenkei is used with.Negative Form
The mizenkei comes before the jodoushi ~nai ～ない to form the negative form.- kaka-nai
書かない
To not write. - tabe-nai
食べない
To not eat. - shi-nai
しない
To not do. - ko-nai
来ない
To not come.
The negative form of adjectives isn't derived from the mizenkei, but from the ren'youkei instead. For example, kawaikunai 可愛くない, "not cute," is the ren'youkei kawaiku plus ~nai ～ない, which isn't a jodoushi in this case, but a hojo-keiyoushi 補助形容詞 instead.
Similarly, kire denai 綺麗でない, "not pretty," has the hojo-keiyoushi ~nai, not the jodoushi ~nai.
Passive Form, Potential Form
The mizenkei also forms the passive form and potential form with the jodoushi ~rareru ～られる in ichidan verbs, and ~reru ～れる in godan verbs. The mizenkei of suru する in this case is sa~ さ～.- kaka-reru
書かれる
To be written. (passive.)
To be able to write. (potential.) - tabe-rareru
食べられる
To be eaten. (passive.)
To be able to write. (potential.) - sa-reru
される
To be done. (passive.) - ko-rareru
来られる
To be able to come. (potential.)
A few notes:
The form above can also be used in other ways. For example, korareru can mean just a polite way to say "to come," without being passive or potential.
In general, kakareru isn't used as potential. The potential verb kakeru 書ける is used instead. Sometimes the ra ら is removed in taberareru, turning it into tabereru 食べれる, which only has the potential meaning.
Historically, the potential form of suru する would be se-rareru せられる, but that's rarely used in modern Japanese. The word sa-reru される may be used as potential, but that rarely happens, too. The normal way to say the potential form of suru する is the verb dekiru できる.[れる(られる)／エる／できる - dictionary.goo.ne.jp, accessed 2019-12-10]
The ~masu ～ます jodoushi doesn't have a passive form, so it doesn't have a mizenkei that connects to the passive jodoushi. Instead, to say "to do" in the passive polite, you say the passive sareru される, "to be done," and then add ~masu to that, saremasu されます.
The same applies to potential verbs: kakemasu 書けます, "to be able to write (polite)."
Causative Form
The mizenkei also forms the causative form with the jodoushi ~saseru ～させる in ichidan verbs, and ~seru せる in godan verbs. The mizenkei of suru する in this case is sa~ さ～.- kaka-seru
書かせる
To cause [someone] to write [something].
To let [someone] write [something].
To force [someone] to write [something]. - tabe-saseru
食べさせる
To cause [someone] to eat [something].
To let [someone] eat [something].
To force [someone] to eat [something]. - sa-seru
させる
To cause [someone] to do [something].
To let [someone] eat [something].
To force [someone] to eat [something]. - ko-saseru
来させる
To cause [something] to come [somewhere].
To let [someone] come [somewhere].
To force [someone] to come [somewhere].
The causative form of kuru 来る is ko-saseru 来させる. The causative form of kitasu 来す, "to produce a result," is kitasa-seru 来させる. They end up being written the same way, but read differently, because they're different words.
The ~masu ～ます jodoushi doesn't have a causative form, so, instead, just say the causative form of a verb, like tabesaseru, and add ~masu to that, tabesasemasu 食べさせます.
Volitional Form
The mizenkei also forms the volitional form with the jodoushi ~you ～よう in ichidan verbs, and ~u ～う in godan verbs. The mizenkei of suru する in this case is shi~ し～, and of godan verbs it ends in the ~o vowel, not ~a.- kako-u
書こう
Let's write. - tabe-you
食べよう
Let's eat. - shi-you
しよう
Let's do. - ko-you
来よう
Let's come.
Although the easiest way to translate this is "let's," it's also used in other ways.
For example: ashita gakkou ni ikou to omotta 明日学校に行こうと思った, "[I] thought of going to school tomorrow." Here, the speaker isn't trying to convince anyone to go to school, they're going alone.
The word ikou is used because, although the speaker has made their decision, the action didn't occur yet, they didn't "go" yet, so it's still a hypothetical situation in the future.
This form is called "volitional form" because most of the time the hypothetical future is what the speaker wishes to happen, their volition, but it can be used in ways without volition too. For example: nani ga arou to 何があろうと, "[no matter] what happens, [I'll do something]."
Furthermore, adjectives do have this form.
- donna ni kawaikarou to
どんなに可愛かろうと
[No matter] how cute [it] is, [I'll do something]. - donna ni kirei darou to
どんなに綺麗だろうと
[No matter] how pretty [it] is, [I'll do something].
The desu です copula has this form as well.
- hontou ni sou darou ka?
本当にそうだろうか？
Is that really so? - hontou ni sou deshou ka?
本当にそうでしょうか？
(same meaning, but polite.)
Since the ~u ～う jodoushi doesn't conjugate like an ichidan verb, we can't just slap ~masu ～ます at it like how we did with ~(ra)reru and ~(sa)reru. Since we can't add ~masu to ~u, this time we add ~u to ~masu instead, through the mizenkei ~masho~ ～ましょ～.
- benkyou shiyou
勉強しよう
Let's study. - benkyou shimashou
勉強しましょう
(same meaning, but polite.)
The addition of ~u ～う turns the preceding ~o vowel into a long vowel, and sometimes long vowels are pronounced differently from what you'd expect, as short vowels instead. Consequently the ~u ～う disappears.
That's how you get daro だろ, desho でしょ, and masho まし, meaning the same thing as darou, deshou, and mashou.
To elaborate: daro~ is the mizenkei, which doesn't mean anything. Then, daro~ plus ~u forms the volitional form, darou, which does mean something. Then, some dude pronounces it as daro instead, without ~u, and it looks like the mizenkei, but technically it isn't the mizenkei, because the mizenkei doesn't mean anything, and what the dude is saying does mean something, so it can't be the mizenkei, therefore, it must be the meaningful darou being shortened into daro. Does that make sense for you?
To make matters more complicated yet, darou and deshou can be used to express something you're pondering about (how? why?), or to seek confirmation from the listener (yes or no), but daro and desho tend to be used only to seek confirmation, so they aren't even always interchangeable.
- sora wa naze aoi no darou?
空はなぜ青いのだろう？
Why is the sky blue, I wonder? - Rayleigh scattering. Source: Aldnoah Zero.
- sora wa naze aoi no daro?
空はなぜ青いのだろ？
(obviously, anyone can understand what you mean, but people don't normally convey their deep, profound ponderings in such short-vowel'd way.)
Before ～ぬ
The mizenkei also comes before the jodoushi ~nu ～ぬ, which also forms a negative form. In this case, the verb suru する conjugates to se せ instead.- kaka-nu
書かぬ
To not write. - tabe-nu
食べぬ
To not eat. - se-nu
せぬ
To not do. - ko-nu
来ぬ
To not come.
Note: kuru 来る only has one mizenkei: ko こ, therefore this form must be konu 来ぬ. When it's read kinu 来ぬ instead, that's a different thing, it means "came," in the past, and it's not the mizenkei, it's the ren'youkei 連用形 of kuru. [夏は来（こ）ぬ夏は来（き）ぬの違いって何ですか？？？ - detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp, accessed 2019-12-10]
This form is seldom used as-is in modern Japanese, but there are two cases where it does show up with some frequency.
Before ～ん
A contraction of ~nu ～ぬ is ~n ～ん. For example, the mizenkei of masu ます is mase~ ませ～, plus ~nu ～ぬ you get masenu ませぬ, then contracted you get masen ません.That's why the negative of the polite kakimasu is kakimasen, not kakimasanai.
Similarly, the following phrases all follow the same sort of contraction:
- shiranu しらぬ
shiran しらん
[I] don't know.
Dunno. - yurushi wa senu 許しはせぬ
yurushi wa sen 許しはせん
Forgiving, [I] won't do.
[I] won't forgive [it]. - sore wa sasenu それはさせぬ
sore wa sasen それはさせん
[I] won't let [you] do [that].
Before ～ねば
The conditional ~ba ～ば form of ~nu ～ぬ, which is ~neba ～ねば, also comes after the mizenkei.- nantoka seneba naran
なんとかせねばならん
If not do something won't become. (literally.)
Must do something. - nantoka shinakereba naranai
なんとかしなければならない
(same meaning.)
Before ～ず
The mizenkei form also comes before ~zu ～ず, which translates to "without doing something," and is grammatically related to ~nu ～ぬ, so the mizenkei is exactly the same.- kaka-zu
書かず
Without writing. - tabe-zu
食べず
Without eating. - se-zu
せず
Without doing. - ko-zu
来ず
Without coming.
This one is most often seen in the expression inochi shirazu 命知らず, "not knowing of life," which means reckless, not considering the mortal danger of doing something. In other words: most main characters of shounen anime.
Syntactically, this form outputs a noun, not an adverb, so you need the adverbial copula ni に in order to modify a verb with it.
- nanimo kangaenai
何も考えない
To not think anything. - {nanimo kangaezu ni} koudou suru
何も考えずに行動する
To act {without thinking anything}.
Sometimes it shows up without the ni に. It happens when there's a comma after ~zu, or at least there could be a comma after ~zu, but nobody likes commas, so there's no comma, but there could be one.
The word ~masezu ～ませず should be grammatically correct, but as a rule of thumb you only use ~masu ～ます at the end of sentences, and if you're going to use ~zu ～ず, it's probably in the middle of the sentence, so you're probably not going to use it. For example:
- nanimo sezu, machimashita
何もせず、待ちました
Without doing anything, [I] waited. - nanimo shimasezu, machimashita
何もしませず、待ちました
(same meaning, but nobody is going to say this, because you have two ~masu here, and you only needed one.)
If it does happen, it's because the formal variant of aru ある is gozaimasu ございます, and it always comes with ~masu in it. So if you needed to say arazu あらず, you would have to say gozaimasezu ございませず. But then again, you probably wouldn't need say arazu to begin with, so you won't need to say gozaimasezu either.
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