Verbs: Small Effort, Huge Payoff
Time to make verbs dance! Here's why Japanese verbs are a gift to learners: they never change for person or number. English forces "I eat, she eats, we ate…"; Spanish has dozens of endings. Japanese? 食べます (tabemasu) works for I, you, she, we, they — everyone. Verbs change only for tense (non-past/past), polarity (yes/no), and style (polite/plain). Four polite forms cover a beginner's entire daily life, and you're about to own all four.
1. The Four Faces of the ます Form
Every polite verb is built on a stem + ます. Swap the ending, and you time-travel:
| Non-past | Past | |
|---|---|---|
| Affirmative | 食べます (tabemasu) eat / will eat | 食べました (tabemashita) ate |
| Negative | 食べません (tabemasen) don't / won't eat | 食べませんでした (tabemasen deshita) didn't eat |
That's the whole system — and it's identical for every verb in the language. No exceptions. Let's see it live:
毎日、コーヒーを飲みます。(Mainichi, kōhī o nomimasu.) — I drink coffee every day.
昨日は飲みませんでした。(Kinō wa nomimasen deshita.) — Yesterday I didn't drink any.
週末、映画を見ました。(Shūmatsu, eiga o mimashita.) — I watched a movie on the weekend.
肉を食べません。(Niku o tabemasen.) — I don't eat meat.
Remember: non-past covers both present habits and the future. 明日、行きます = "I'll go tomorrow." The time word does the work.
2. The Dictionary Form and the Three Verb Groups
The ます form is what you say; the dictionary form (辞書形, jishokei) is what you look up — the verb's plain "name", which always ends in a -u sound: 食べる (taberu), 行く (iku), する (suru). It's also the casual-speech form ("plain style" from the sentence-structure chapter) and the base for much N5 grammar to come.
Japanese verbs sort into three groups by how their forms connect. Meet them now — gently. You do not need to master the conversion rules yet; you just need to recognize the families:
| Group | Nickname | How ます connects | Examples (dictionary → ます) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | u-verbs (五段) | final -u changes to -i + ます | 行く iku → 行きます 飲む nomu → 飲みます 買う kau → 買います 話す hanasu → 話します |
| Group 2 | ru-verbs (一段) | drop る, add ます | 食べる taberu → 食べます 見る miru → 見ます 起きる okiru → 起きます 寝る neru → 寝ます |
| Group 3 | irregulars (only two!) | memorize | する suru → します 来る kuru → 来ます (kimasu) |
Yes, you read that right: Japanese has exactly two irregular verbs. (English has about 200!) する "do" and 来る "come" — and even they misbehave only mildly.
How to tell Group 1 from Group 2? Rough guide for now: if the dictionary form ends in something other than る (く, む, う, す…), it's Group 1. If it ends in -eru or -iru, it's probably Group 2 (食べる, 見る) — but a few -eru/-iru verbs are secretly Group 1, like 帰る (kaeru → 帰ります, kaerimasu). Since this course gives you every verb directly in ます form, treat groups as background knowledge — they become essential at N5 when you learn the て-form, so this early acquaintance is an investment.
3. あります & います: To Exist, To Have
Japanese splits "there is" into two verbs, by whether the thing is alive:
| Verb | Used for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| あります (arimasu) | inanimate things, plants, abstract things | 机の上に本があります。— There's a book on the desk. 時間があります。— I have time. |
| います (imasu) | people and animals | 公園に子どもがいます。— There are children in the park. 犬がいます。— I have a dog. |
The full existence pattern: [Place] に [Thing] が あります/います. Flip it to say where something is: [Thing] は [Place] にあります — 銀行は駅の前にあります (The bank is in front of the station). Negatives make superbly useful sentences: 時間がありません (no time!), お金がありません (no money!), 誰もいません (nobody's here).
A cultural chuckle: a taxi is あります but the driver inside is います. A robot dog? Japanese speakers debate it — the line is aliveness as we feel it.
4. Bonus Powers of the ます Stem: Let's ~! / Won't You ~?
Chop off ます and the stem accepts magical endings. Two you can use immediately:
| Ending | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 〜ませんか | "Won't you ~?" — a polite invitation | いっしょに昼ごはんを食べませんか。(Issho ni hirugohan o tabemasen ka.) — Won't you have lunch with me? |
| 〜ましょう | "Let's ~" | 行きましょう!(Ikimashō!) — Let's go! 始めましょう。(Hajimemashō.) — Let's begin. |
Invitation etiquette: ませんか asks and leaves room to decline (politer); ましょう assumes everyone's on board. Reply to an invitation with いいですね!(Ii desu ne! — "Sounds great!") or the gentle refusal ちょっと… (chotto… — "it's a bit…" — the famous Japanese soft no, no explanation needed).
5. Putting Verbs in Real Sentences
Recall the natural skeleton: [Topic は] [Time] [Place で/に] [Object を] [Verb]. Now every slot is yours:
私は毎朝7時に起きます。(Watashi wa maiasa shichiji ni okimasu.) — I get up at 7 every morning.
朝ごはんを食べません。コーヒーだけ飲みます。(Asagohan o tabemasen. Kōhī dake nomimasu.) — I don't eat breakfast. I only drink coffee. (だけ = only!)
昨日、友だちとレストランで晩ごはんを食べました。(Kinō, tomodachi to resutoran de bangohan o tabemashita.) — Yesterday I had dinner with a friend at a restaurant.
明日、いっしょに勉強しませんか。— ええ、しましょう!(Ashita, issho ni benkyō shimasen ka. — Ee, shimashō!) — Want to study together tomorrow? — Yes, let's!
6. Practice: Conjugation Gym
Cover the answers and transform each verb as instructed:
| Task | Answer |
|---|---|
| 見ます → past | 見ました (mimashita) |
| 行きます → negative | 行きません (ikimasen) |
| 飲みます → past negative | 飲みませんでした (nomimasen deshita) |
| します → "let's do" | しましょう (shimashō) |
| 会います → invitation | 会いませんか (aimasen ka) |
| "There's a cat under the chair." | いすの下にねこがいます。(Isu no shita ni neko ga imasu.) |
| "I didn't study yesterday." | 昨日、勉強しませんでした。(Kinō, benkyō shimasen deshita.) |
Summary & Key Takeaways
- Japanese verbs ignore person and number — one form for everybody.
- The four polite faces: 〜ます / 〜ません / 〜ました / 〜ませんでした — identical for every verb, zero exceptions.
- Non-past = present habit and future; time words carry the difference.
- Three groups: u-verbs (行く→行きます), ru-verbs (食べる→食べます), and just two irregulars (する, 来る). Recognize now, master at N5.
- あります for things, います for people/animals: [Place]に[Thing]があります — also how you say "I have".
- Stem magic: 〜ませんか invites ("won't you?"), 〜ましょう proposes ("let's!"). Soft-decline with ちょっと….
- Verbs are the heartbeat of the sentence — and yours now beat in past, present, negative and invitation. Adjectives are next!