How to recognize,classify and use
the inflection patternsof Japanese verbs andAdjectives
If you want to find a verb or adjective in a dictionary or if
you want to inflect it correctly,

Your First Task is:
Identify Verb Types:
Ichidan?
Godan?
Irregular?
Adjective?

1

FINDING THE DICTIONARY FORM
OF JAPANESE VERBS & Adjectives
STEP ONE:

Identify the verb’s inflection

To do this you need to be able to recognise all possible inflections even if you have not yet learned what theymean. We have them listed on the chart called MAKING VERBS WORK and on the other two charts, THE
GODAN DOSHI TREE and ICHIDAN VERBS ARE LIKE A BAMBOO. They are found on the computer
programme by selecting VERB CHART, and in the stack UJVA INTRODUCTION.
They will also be listed following this explanation. (Pp123-124)

EXAMPLE:

inflected ending

いなかった （居なかった） ＋なかった
かかなかった（書かなかった） ＋なかった

STEP TWO::

Examine the preceding syllable.

Each possible inflection is added to a verb according to one of two sets of rules depending on whether the verb
is an ICHIDAN (one row) verb or a GODAN (5 row) verb. If the verb is ICHIDAN, the vowel sound in thesyllable before the inflection will ALWAYS be either an ‘e’ or an ‘i’So, if that is what you find, simply replace the inflection with the ‘-ru’ syllable, because that is the inflection
the verb uses to be listed in a dictionary.

Look again at the first example above:

い＋なかった居＋なかったThe preceding syllable is “i’ so replace the inflection with“-ru”

andyou have:the dictionary form of an ICHIDAN verb.
いる居るThe next step is to look for it in a dictionary. If it is there, you know you got it right. If not,well, keep reading and we will look at other possibilities.
Using the same rule in reverse, you can now form all the inflected forms of this verb, merely by
cutting off the -ru and replacing it with the chosen inflection. This is shown graphically on thebamboo chart.

2

The second example:

かか＋なかった・書か＋なかった

STEP TWO::

Examine the preceding syllable.

The syllable before the inflection is -ka- , so we know that this is a GODAN verb. How do weknow?
GODAN verbs are so called because each possible inflection is added to one of the 5 ROWS ofthe Japanese sound table. That is, if the syllable before the inflection contains or is the-a, -i,-u, -e, or -o vowel, then the verb should be a GODAN verb. To explain this again,each GODAN verb uses every one of the 5 syllables between its base form and the inflected
endings. Your job is to learn which of the five syllables to use before each possible inflected
ending. The chart THE GODAN DOSHI TREE shows which of the five syllables are usedwith which inflected endings. (P123, or Cards 9-16 of UJVA Intro.)Now look again at the second example, 書 か な か っ た ：Preceding the -nakatta is the syllable -ka- which you know is the a-row of the five syllable
set か ・ き ・ く ・ け ・ こ . (a-i-u-e-o) Therefore we know that this verb is constructed
like this:base

か or 書5-row link+inflected endingか＋なかったka+ka+
nakattta
From this we know that this is a GODAN verb. Why? Because if the inflected ending ispreceded by the syllable containing the ‘a’ vowel, in this case, -ka- then we know it has to be a
GODAN verb.
In this case the linking syllable is the first row of か ・ き ・ く ・ け ・ こ .

To find the “dictionary form”(jishokei/genkei) of a
GODAN verb, simply convert the 5th row syllable to the3rd row form, that is, to the one containing the -uvowel.
So, to return to the example,

書かなかったRemove the inflection ー な か っ た
Of k a k a - convert the remaining last syllable - k aFrom

to the 3rd row - k u
the result is:the dictionary form:
か く・書書く3

A SLIGHT COMPLICATION
There are a few GODAN verbs using the the 5 rows,

ら・り・る・れ・ろ(ra-ri-ru-re-ro)
but which happen to have the vowel sound ‘e’ or‘i’ in the preceding syllable. Think back to therule for identifying a GODAN verb.
If the verb is ICHIDAN, the vowel sound in the syllable before the inflection will
ALWAYS be either an ‘e’ or an ‘i.’
Unfortunately, it is also the case that some GODAN verbs using the syllables ra-ri-ru-re-rohave the ‘e’ or ‘i’ vowel in front of the 5 rows and can therefore in some inflected forms lookjust like an ICHIDAN verb. So how do you tell the difference?
Let’s add the inflected ending -tai (which needs to be added to the ‘i’ row of GODAN verbs)
to one of these verbs and see what happens. e.g.
From は し り た い remove the -tai. This leaves hashiri- of which the last syllable contains
the ‘i’ vowel. So according to the rule it might be an ICHIDAN verb, in which case we would
make the dictionary form by simply substituting -ru for the original inflection -tai.
Do this, and we have a dictionary form

は し り る.

T r e a t i t a s G O D A N , t h e d i c t i o n a r y f o r m i s は し る.

h a s h i r i r u or h a s h i r u ?
How to tell which is right?
Answer:Look up both possibilities in the dictionary.

If you did this in the above case, you would find that there is no verb は し り る .
は し る which follows the GODAN rule. So, problem solved.

But there isSometimes two verbs can throw up the same inflected
form even though one is ICHIDAN and the other is GODAN.
おります
Remove the inflection -masu and the last syllable now contains the vowel -i- so it could be
ICHIDAN or it could be a GODAN verb using ra-ri-ru-re-ro. The only way to find out is tomake the dictionary forms by both rules, and look them up to see if they both exist.
For a possible ICHIDAN dictionary form of お り ま す replace the inflection -masu with- r u.

Result: お り る4

For a possible GODAN dictionary form:

from o r i m a s u remove - m a s u
convert the preceding syllable - r ito the third row - r u .

Result: お る
If you look in a dictionary you find:both お り る

So, the ICHIDAN verb お り る
desu/masu form お り ま す .

& おる exist.

and the GODAN verb お る

both produce the same

Which one one is intended?

Well as they will mean different things you will know from the context which is meant. Thenof course in written Japanese, kanji will mostly be used and you will know from the kanji whichverb is used. e.g.

お り ま す (ICHIDAN)) will be written 降 り ま す or 下 り ま す and,お り ま す (GODAN) will be written 折 り ま す , 居 り ま す or 織 り ま す
Yes, there are indeed three お る ’s! But their meanings are quite different so in practice, noconfusion will occur.
On the next 3 pages, there are charts which line up the dictionary form of GODAN verbs using
the -i- and -e- vowels with potentially confuseable ICHIDAN verbs. You can see that if verb
has more than 2 syllables, then the dictionary form shows reliably whether or not a verb isGODAN or ICHIDAN because,

after the kanji or stem of the verb,

GODAN verbs a d d o n l y - r u to the kanji,
ICHIDAN verbs a d d 2 s y l l a b l e s i n c l u d i n g - r u.
ICHIDAN

GODAN

換える（かえる）

返る（かえる）ka + eru

kae + ru

5

Okurigana withverbs of 3 or more syllables
I C H I D A N (adds 2 syllables)
信じる（しん＋じる）
代える（か ＋える）
替える（か ＋える）
換える（か ＋える）

G O D A N (adds one syllable)弄る（いじ＋る）
帰る（かえ＋る）
返る（かえ＋る）

verbs of only 2 syllables
As you can see from the chart, this handy rule does not help to distinguish verbs of either kind
if they have only 2 syllables including the final -ru, to start with. With two syllable verbs, youhave to look in the dictionary for a clue as to whether it is ICHIDAN or GODAN.
What clues might you find?
Look at the examples of usage. (If your dictionary gives no examples, throw it away and get
one that does.) The easiest clues will be given by the negative form or the -te or -ta forms.

1. Look for an example of the negative form:
There should be an example using the plain negative. Suppose the verb is い る

居 る or(say, either

要 る ） if the vowel in the syllable before the negative ending -nai is -a- as in-ra, then you know it is a GODAN verb of the ra-ri-ru-re-ro type.
The problem is solved BUT, if the syllable before the -nai ending is the base of the verb itself,
as in居る．

居＋ない

then you know it is an ICHIDAN verb.

2. Look for an example of the -te form or the plain past,-ta form.
These inflections of GODAN verbs always look like, ー っ て 、 ( - t t e ) or ー っ た( - t t a ) therefore if you see い っ ていった

you know the verb is GODAN. If yousee い て OR い た ( - i t e o r i t a , - e t e o r - e t a ) you know the verb is ICHIDAN.

6

GODAN verbs easy toconfuse with ICHIDAN verbs
Verbs ending -iru
2:/,9 aP]M^ PYOTYR®®®TY  T  ǉ>TXTWL] 4.34/,9
aP]M^ QZ] NZX[L]T^ZY弄る（いじる）信じる（しんじる）信じない
信じて強いる（しいる） 強いない
強いて過ぎる（すぎる） 過ぎない過ぎて起きる（おきる） 起きない
起きて降りる（おりる） 降りない
降りて生きる（いきる） 生きない
生きて弄らない弄って参る（まいる） 参らない
参って過る（よぎる） 過らない
過って遮る（さえぎる）遮らない
遮って入る（はいる） 入らない
入って走る（はしる） 走らない
走って ^dWWLMWP aP]M^  Z] aP]M^bT_S L ZYP ^dWWLMWP ML^P
切る（きる）入る（いる）
要る（いる）
散る（ちる）
知る（しる）着る（きる）

切らない
切って入らない
入って要らない
要って散らない
散って知らない
知って居る（いる）
見る（みる）
診る（みる）
煮る（にる）

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着ない
着て居ない
居て見ない
見て診ない
診て煮ない
煮て

GODAN verbs easy to confusewith ICHIDAN verbs
Verbs ending -eru
2:/,9 aP]M^ PYOTYR®®®TY  P ǉ>TXTWL] 4.34/,9 aP]M^     QZ] NZX[L]T^ZY

湿る（しめる）占める（しめる）

湿らない
湿って帰る（かえる）

帰らない
帰って返る（かえる）

返らない
返って滑る（すべる）締める（しめる）
換える（かえる）
替える（かえる）
代える（かえる）

滑らない
滑って変える（かえる）

占めない
占めて締めない
締めて換えない
換えて替えない
替えて代えない
代えて変えない変えて ^dWWLMWP aP]M^  Z] aP]M^bT_S L ZYP ^dWWLMWP ML^P
練る（ねる）
減る（へる）
蹴る（ける）
照る（てる）
競る（せる）

練らない
練って減らない
減って蹴らない
蹴って照らない
照って競らない
競って8

寝る（ねる）

寝ない
寝て出る（でる）

出ない
出て得る（える）

得ない
得てList of Inflections
with Linking Syllables
according toVerb Type.
(See following 3 pages)

GODAN VERBS
On page 123, the tree shows how the inflections are attached to a
GODAN verb. Each inflection can only be attached to a specificsyllable. You have to learn this pattern in order to find the Dictionary
Form or go from the form you find in the dictionary to otherforms.
The lopped-off top of the main trunk represents the "sentence-end
form" or "Shuushi" (終止形） It is also referred to the“plain form” or “dearu-cho." It is the most common
form of the verb for ending sentences and clauses in written Japanese,and is normal too in spoken Japanese except for the the final verbof a sentence when the “desu/masu-cho” will often but notnecessarily be used.

ICHIDAN VERBS
Page 124 shows the same inflections and how they are attached toICHIDAN verbs. Note that instead of the five options ofGODAN verbs, they all attach to the same syllable, except those in
the top boxes which follow the “dearu-cho,” (plain form) or,
either the “dearu-cho” or the “desu/masu-cho” (formalform.)

You can use these charts (which are also available as wall charts)tohelp you find the Dictionary Forms in the practice exercises which
follow, and then we suggest you go to the stack, “First Practice”
before doing Exercises A and B of UJVA, the computer programme.

9ICHIDANNOTESThe Inflections youneed to know

-nai,-naku,-nakute,-naide,-nakatta,-nakattara,- s a s e r u / -nakereba,-nu,-zu,-zaru(o enai)-sasu,-seru, -su, -reru-rareru-masu,-masen,-mashita,-mashite;-tai,-takunai, takatta(ra),-takute,-takunakute-takunaide,-takunakatta(ra),-takereba,-takunakereba;-ta(ra)*,-te*,-de*; -nagara,-tsutsu,-yasui,-nikui,-zurai; compound verbs, e.g.
tabe-owaru, hashiri-dasu, fuki-komu;

connective form at end of clause, no inflection,

GODAN
NOTES
USE
"a-row"(mizen)USE"i-row"(renyo)e,g, machi ni iki, kaimono shimashita* It is not always obvious that these forms are added to the "i-row" ofGODAN verbs. Apparent contradiction occurs with verbs based on thea-, ka-, ra-, na-, and ma-rows because of the gradual dropping of a soundbetween the stem and the ending.

SeeBamboo
chart

nouns, pronouns; rashii, sooda, mai, to, noni, ga,kara, node, keredomo, shi, shika, made, bakari,dake, hodo, gurai, yooda.
These words are added to finite forms of Japanese verbs, and can beadded to either the present or past tense , "desu/masu-cho" or "de/arucho" depending on specific rules of usage for each word. Refer toBamboo chart and grammar texts also.

-reba,-rareru
use base
form, noinflection.

-obecomes-yo--(e)ba "if" (conditional)-(e)ru add to GODAN verbs to mean "can"imperative form, no added inflection.

-uauxilliary (jodoshi) of supposition or intention added to "o-row" ofverb. Romanisation obscures its presence but the kana for "u" is usedin Japanese.

10USE"rentai"or nounlinking
form
accordingto rulesfor eachword.

USE e-rowAdd -ru to-e- andGODAN vb
becomes
ICHIDANUSE"o-row"