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In its most basic sense, Japanese has casual and polite forms.
Let’s start by understanding in which situations Casual and Polite Japanese are used.

Casual Japanese is used among friends, family and towards people who are typically younger than the speaker. When you find a verb in the dictionary, it will always be listed in its casual form.

Polite Japanese is generally used between strangers, formal settings and towards those who are older than the speaker.

Today, we will learn how to conjugate verbs into formal Japanese.

First, remember that there are two types of verbs in Japanese aside from irregular verbs: Ichidan verbs (also known as “ru” verbs) and Godan verbs (known as “u” verbs).

Conjugating Ichidan Verbs to its Polite Form

To conjugate an Ichidan verb, simply remove the final “ru” sound and you are left with the verb stem.

eat        = taberu  →    tabe
watch  = miru     →    mi

Add “masu ” to the end of these verbs to conjugate the verb to its polite form. To make it into the negative polite form, simply replace “masu” with “masen”.

tabemasu   = I will eat
tabemasen = I won’t eat

mimasu    =  I will watch
mimasen  =  I won’t watch

Conjugating Godan Verbs to its Polite Form

To conjugate a Godan verb, remove the final “u” sound and add an “i” sound to the end to create the verb stem.

write    =   kaku      →  kaki
read      =   yomu    →  yomi
speak   =  hanasu  →  hanashi

Same as ichidan verbs, add “masu ” to the end of these verbs to conjugate the verb to its polite form. To make it into the negative polite form, simply replace “masu” with “masen”.

kakimasu   = I will write
kakimasen = I won’t write

yomimasu   = I will read
yomimasen = I won’t read

hanashimasu   = I will speak
hanashimasen = I won’t speak

Please note that not all verbs that end with “ru” are ichidan verbs. It’s best to remember which verbs are ichidan when you study new vocabulary.

Now it’s your turn! Try to conjugate the verbs listed below to their polite form.

Sleep : neru
Drink: nomu
Laugh: warau
Cry: naku
Remember: oboeru
Forget: wasureru
Play: asobu

Japanese Verb Conjugations #1
Future/Habitual Tense

This form of the verb is found in dictionaries. It is commonly referred to as the standard form, short/informal/plain form, or infinitive.

Depending on the context of the conversation, use of this form will be inferred as either the future tense or habitual tense.

I will eat breakfast tomorrow – ashita, asagohan wo taberu.
I eat breakfast everyday – mai’nichi, asagohan wo taberu.

Refer to the verb conjugation chart to learn how to conjugate verbs into the negative tense.

How to Conjugate Japanese Verbs Part 1
–  Standard form and negatives

There are three main types of verbs in Japanese:

English and Japanese grammatical structure are different.

In English, we use (1) Subject-Verb-Object or (2) Subject-Verb-Compliment.
1. I ate sushi.
2. I am hot.

In Japanese, the order is (1) S-O-V or (2) S-C-V.
1. 私はすしを食べた。　watashi wa sushi wo tabeta (I ate sushi).
2. 私は暑いです。　watashi wa atsui desu (I am hot).

Let’s take a look at the S-C-V example. The format can be generalized as follows: S wa C desu.

“wa” marks the topic of the sentence.
“desu” is the verb “is/are”.

Here are a few more examples of the S-C-V structure.
a. I am happy – watashi wa shiawase desu
b. He is big – kare wa ookii desu
c. She is small – kanojo wa chiisai desu
d. They are noisy – karera wa urusai desu
e. Mother is quiet – haha wa shizuka desu

Test yourself to see if you can make a few sentences using the SVC format!

-The Japanese Alphabet–
There are three types of Japanese alphabet:

1. Hiragana – traditional Japanese characters
2. Katakana – used for foreign words or sound effects
3. Kanji – traditional Chinese characters