Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 2: 5/12

う-Verb (Dictionary)う + ます (Godan Verbs)

Short form is also often called 'casual form' (because it is used in casual language), or 'plain form'

Structure

Examples:
座(すわ)る
歌(うた)う
歩(ある)く
話(はな)す
打(う)つ
死(し)ぬ
飛(と)ぶ
休(やす)む
泳(およ)ぐ

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Verb

  • Word Type

    Independent Word

  • Register

    Standard

About う-Verb (Dictionary)

う-Verbs include all of the verbs in Japanese that end in う sounds (including some of the verbs that end in る). These verbs are called Godan (五段(ごだん)) 'five-level' verbs in Japanese, due to their conjugations using all 5 of the different sounds in the same column (段(だん)) that their base form comes from.

As we can see here, the く in 聞(き)く changes to き when conjugated to the polite form. All of the other sounds the K-column will be used with 聞(き)く, depending on the conjugation. This is the same for all of the う-Verbs.

聞(き)かない, 聞(き)きたい, 聞(き)く, 聞(き)ける, 聞(き)こう

Here we can see the う-Verb 聞(き)く using all of the different K-column sounds in various conjugations.

Caution

Just like with る-Verbs, the base form of the verb may be called 'plain form', 'casual form', or 'short form', depending on the source/book.

Examples

--:--

    聞(き)く → 聞(き)きます

    To listen/hear

    座(すわ)る → 座(すわ)ります

    To sit down

    飲(の)む→ 飲(の)みます

    To drink

    打(う)つ → 打(う)ちます

    To hit

    会(あ)う → 会(あ)います

    To meet

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      う-Verb (Dictionary) – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (14 in total)

      • FredKore

        FredKore

        I was curious so I tried it. Google is not great for checking proper grammar – it takes whatever you give it and tries to interpret what you meant to say. But notice, in the ローマ字, it still recognizes that ‘mochinai’ is not a word and separates it into two…

      • bhenryjp1

        bhenryjp1

        I totally overlooked and misread the た in the casual form. Thanks!

      • delliepops

        delliepops

        The ____ is labeled “polite”. But I’m supposed to fill in the casual form? This doesn’t make sense to me. Shouldn’t the ____ be labeled “casual”?

        Here’s what the question looks like:

        (Polite) → 飲みます

        Why is the correct answer nomu (casual form) when the label is clearly asking me to fill in the polite form, which is what’s already on the right side?

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