THE A KODANSHA DICTIONARY HANDBOOK OF JAPANESE VERBS Taeko Kamiya author of The Handbook of Japanese Adjectives and Adverbs JAPANESE SYLLABARY CHART (for Regular I Verb Conjugation) 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 Ka Ga Sa Ta Na Ba Ma Ra Wa BASE 1j 1st ka ga sa ta na ba ma ra wa A 2nd ki gi shi chi ni hi mi ri (w)i* I U 3rd ku gu su tsu flu bu mu ru (w)u* U 4th ke ge se te ne be me re (w)e* E 5th ko go so to no ho mo ro (w)o* o co I I I I IlM IC III Ii Id I I ciSc II (I isa p [)cars before all vowels except a. isI .i(cid:9) tutu. Ic a mark the object of sentence. THE HANDBOOK OF JAPANESE VERBS THE A KODANSHA DICTIONARY HANDBOOK OF JAPANESE VERBS Taeko Kamiya KODANSHA INTERNATIONAL Tokyo New York• London Distributed in the United States by Kodansha America, LLC, and in the United Kingdom and continental Europe by Kodansha Europe Ltd. Published by Kodansha International Ltd., 17-14 Otowa Uchome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8652, Copyright © 2001 by Taeko Kamiya. All rights reserved. Printed in Japan. ISBN 978-4-7700-2683-5 First edition, 2001 20 19 18 17 16 15 1413 12 11 10(cid:9) 15 1413 12 11 10 www.kodansha-intl.com PART ii -USAGE OF VERB FORMS(cid:9) 48 1. Conjunctive Form 48 P(cid:9) 1? (cid:9) E(cid:9) F(cid:9) A(cid:9) C(cid:9) E 2. Dictionary Form 63 3. Negative Form 102 4. Conditional Form 137 5. Imperative Form 142 6. Volitional Form 144 7. Te Form 149 In order to master a foreign language, it is crucial for students to 8. Ta Form 175 acquire a solid knowledge of its verbs and their usage. Japanese 9. Tara Form 199 is no exception. 10. Tari Form 202 Japanese verbs are often said to be difficult and complicated and hard to learn. That is not true. In fact, they are simple and less com- plicated to learn than those of many other languages. Unlike some APPENDIXES(cid:9) 205 European languages, you do not have to memorize different forms to indicate the number or person or gender of the subject of the Answers to the Practices sentence. The verb kaku, for instance, could mean I/we write, you Part I 205 (sing./pl.) write, he/she/it writes or they write. Moreover, Japanese Part II 212 verbs are highly regular in the way they make their forms. Once Sentence Patterns 219 you grasp certain rules for making such forms as the negative, con- Basic Japanese Verbs junctive, conditional forms, etc., you will be able to apply these rules 1. Regular I Verbs 224 to almost any verb. 2. Regular II Verbs 230 The purpose of this book is to describe in detail not only how 3. Irregular Verbs and Suru Verbs 233 Japanese verbs conjugate, but how you should use the verb forms English-Japanese Verb List 238 in connection with sentence structures. The book is divided into two parts. Part I deals with the conjuga- tions of the three types of verbs—regular I, regular II and irregular verbs, as well as copulas (be-verbs) and auxiliaries. A conjugation 7 practice follows the description of a verb or a group of verbs. Part II deals with the usage of various verb forms. Each usage is illustrated with example sentences, and exercises are provided every few lessons I N T R 0 D U C T I 0 N to allow you to test your understanding. I do hope that this book will prove to be helpful—you will dis- cover how simple and easy conjugating and using Japanese verbs can be. This section deals with some of the important features of Japanese verbs that are different from English verbs. You are advised to read this section carefully before you move on to the detailed explanation of verb conjugations. TENSES OF VERBS Japanese verbs have two tenses: the present and the past. The same verb form is used to express both present and future tenses. Jimu wa hon o yomimasu. ;j Jim reads/will read a book. The same past form is used for the past, present perfect and past perfect tenses. Jimu wa hon o yomimashita. L.Pc0 Jim read/has read/had read a book. 89 LEVELS OF SPEECH VERB GROUPINGS Japanese verbs express plain and polite styles of speech. The plain Japanese verbs may be divided into three groups: regular I, regular style is used among friends, family and others with whom one is It and irregular. These can be recognized as follows: familiar. This style is also used in writing in newspapers, magazines and books. The polite style is used among adults who are not close 1. Regular I verbs friends. The dictionary form of a regular I verb has a consonant plus u ending. PLAIN: Kare wa KyOto e iku Kare wa KyOto e itta. -ku(cid:9) K kaku write -gu oyogu swim Mr POLITE: -su haflasu speak Kare wa KyOto e ikimasu Kare wa Kyoto e ikimashita. -tsu(cid:9) J matsu wait \ (cid:9) U1 (cid:9) -flu shinu die He goes/will go to Kyoto. He went to Kyoto. -bu tobu fly -mu(cid:9) t3 Yom read In addition to these styles, there are the honorific and humble styles. The honorific style is used to elevate the listener who is older or -ru toru take higher in social status than the speaker. The humble style is used to (w)u* 3 ka(w)u buy lower oneself or one's family member to elevate the listener indirectly. *In modern Japanese, wdisappears before all vowels except a. HONORIFIC: Hara-sensei ga o-hanashi ni narimasu. 2. Regular II verbs Prof. Hara will speak about it. The dictionary from of a regular II verb has a vowel (e or i) plus ru HUMBLE: ending. Chichi ga o-hanashi itashimasu. LA.\Th U0 -eru(cid:9) taberu(cid:9) eat My father will speak about it. -iru(cid:9) miru(cid:9) see, look, watch 10(cid:9) 11 (cid:9) IXCEPrlONS: Note that some verbs ending with -eru/-iru are regular COPULAS (BE-VERBS) (cid:9) I verbs, such as the following: The Japanese copulas da (plain style) and desu (polite style) are equivalent to the English am, is, or are. They are used as follows: kderu(cid:9) )i(cid:9) return hashiru kz run(cid:9) 1. The A is B construction hairu(cid:9) }'(cid:9) enter kiru cut(cid:9) Yamada-san wa bengoshi da/desu. iru(cid:9) need shiru know(cid:9) LUW ±/± Mr. Yamada is a lawyer. 2. As a substitute for other verbs (when the meaning is clear from the context) 3. Irregular verbs Watashi wa omuretsu da/desu. There are only two irregular verbs. Their dictionary forms are as VY1. follows: I'll have an omelet. kuru ;g come suru(cid:9) do AUXILIARIES Auxiliaries are adjuncts that are attached to main verbs to give them The verb suru is combined with nouns to make a noun into a additional meanings. They are used to make various verb forms such verb. It may also be attached to foreign loan words. as polite, negative, passive, causative, potential, etc. Some verbs such as iru (exist) or morau (receive) maybe used as auxiliaries in conjunc- benkyO Cb I (study) benkyO suru study tion with other verbs. yushutsu(cid:9) (export) yushutsu suru OiMrZ export I. Chichi wa rokuji ni okimasu.(cid:9) (polite) doraibu(cid:9) f7 (drive) doraibu suru drive dansu '/ (dance) dansu suru dance My father gets up at six o'clock. 2. Biru wa sakana o tabenai.(cid:9) (negative) tf )l(cid:9) . Bill does not eat fish. 12(cid:9) 13 3. Sara wa sensei ni homerareta.(cid:9) (passive) TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE .1t(cid:9) &fl7 0 A transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object to complete its Sarah was praised by her teacher. meaning. It usually expresses an action done by the subject to the object. An intransitive verb, on the other hand, does not require a direct 4. Sensi wa gakusel ni kanji o kakaseru.(cid:9) (causative) object. It expresses an action or state related only to the subject of the sentence. The teacher makes students write kanji. Tlt&NsmvE: 5. Hiragana wa sugu oboerareru (potential)(cid:9) Watashi wa o-cha o nomu. I can learn hiragana easily. I drink tea. 6. Rainen Kanada e ikitai. (desire)(cid:9) INTRANSITIVE: Watashi wa toshokan made aruku. I want to go to Canada next year. I walk to the library. 7. Ono-san wa Furansugo ga wakaru so da. (hearsay) /J\M::7:7 I hear that Miss Ono understands French. NOTE: Some English transitive verbs are intransitive in Japanese. Tomu wa Nihongo ga wakaru. 8. Yamada-san wa ima hon o yonde iru. (progressive) LLIW Tom understands Japanese. (To Tom, Japanese is understandable.) Mr. Yamada is reading a book now. Koko kara umi ga mieru. We can see the ocean from here. (From here the ocean is visible.) 14 (cid:9) 15