Japanese Lesson: Verbs (Part 3) ~ Plain form conjugations
Present
Present tense is as easy as pie; you just use the plain form of the verb.
watashi ga iku = I will go.
Past
This is where knowing the “Te-form” comes in handy, all you have to do is change the “te” to “ta” and that’s it.
Taberu -> tebete -> tabeta.
Ikku -> itte -> itta
Easy ^_^
Negative
This is a little more difficult as it depends on which verb class you’re working with; for class 2 verbs you drop the “ru” at the end and change it to “nai.”
taberu -> tabenai (to not eat)
miru -> minai (to not see)
Class 1 verbs are a little more tricky; for every “u” sound you change the “u” sound at the end to “a” and add “nai.”
kaeru becomes kaeranai (to not return)
matsu becomes matanai (to not wait)
shinu becomes shinanai (to not die)
nomu becomes nomanai (to not drink)
au becomes awanai (to not meet)
For class 3 it’s impossible to tell because they don’t follow any rules; so here’s a list of them:
suru -> shinai
kuru -> Konai
Negative Past
This is pretty easy once you have the negative forms down; all you do is change the verb to it’s negative form but instead of using “nai” you use “nakatta.”
Examples
iku -> ikanai -> ikanakatta
Nihon ni ikanakatta = I did not go to Japan.
Asagohan wo tabenakatta.
That is it, easy enough once it’s remembered. Remember; these are notoriously tricky so just stick at it and you’ll be fine ^_^
