Prepared, Set, Motion: 100+ Widespread Japanese Verbs You Have to Know

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Nouns inform you “who” or “what ” and adverbs inform you “how,” nevertheless it’s the verb that tells you what’s occurring. Japanese verbs are the important thing to creating full sentences. Having a wealth of choices at your disposal will broaden each your vocabulary and the matters you possibly can comfortably focus on. 

Put your language abilities into motion with greater than 100 new verbs in Japanese! This information will put together you for speaking about hobbies, chores, journey, and extra with motion verbs and grammar suggestions for utilizing them. For additional apply, be part of certainly one of Rosetta Stone’s Stay Classes for real-time instruction from a Japanese language knowledgeable. Study matters of your alternative whereas reinforcing your comprehension and increasing your cultural data.

Learn how to use Japanese verbs

The very first thing to recollect about utilizing Japanese verbs is that they go on the finish of a clause or sentence fairly than within the center because of Japanese following a subject-object-verb (SOV) phrase order. In some circumstances, the topic, object, and different components of the sentence can all be omitted, which leads to verbs being an entire sentence all on their very own! Whereas each Japanese a part of speech is necessary, verbs are significantly important.

In writing, all verbs in Japanese embrace hiragana (平仮名) to some extent, most use kanji (漢字), and some use katakana (片仮名). No matter how the entrance half of the verb is written, the final character is at all times in hiragana. The kind of verb—and thus its verb conjugation—is decided by this character.

There are three classes of verbs in Japanese: ichidan (一段) verbs, godan (五段) verbs, and irregular verbs. The verbs for “to do” (suru, する) and “to return” (kuru, 来る) are the one verbs within the irregular class, which means the overwhelming majority belong to the primary two teams.

What does ichidan verb imply?

The final character of Japanese ichidan verbs is at all times ru (る). They’re additionally typically known as Group 2 or ru-verbs.

To conjugate ichidan verbs, the ru on the finish of the phrase is dropped after which the conjugation ending is added. Due to this, the character earlier than ru stays constant by way of all conjugations. That is the place the time period ichidan comes from: It’ is fabricated from the kanji for “one” (一) and “stage” (段) because of the truth that just one vowel in any given phrase comes earlier than the conjugation. 

What does godan verb imply?

The final character of Japanese godan verbs will be any character that ends in an “u” sound, typically together with ru. They’re additionally typically known as Group 1 or u-verbs.

The kanji that make up godan imply “5” (五) and “stage” (段). It is because, as soon as conjugated, the sound earlier than the conjugation ending will be any of the 5 vowels: a, i, u, e, or o. Not like ichidan verbs, their conjugation at all times leads to the final character being modified fairly than dropped.

What are Japanese suru verbs?

By attaching the Japanese verb for “to do” to sure nouns, a brand new subset of verbs known as suru verbs is created. These verbs actually imply “to do [noun].” This makes them extraordinarily versatile and also you’ will see them all through this information recognized as an “irregular” verb kind.

What are Japanese compound verbs?

Japanese compound verbs are fabricated from two totally different verbs to create one new one. Often, that is accomplished by conjugating the primary verb into its verb stem (which means the a part of the phrase that goes earlier than the ender within the masu-form conjugation) and attaching the second verb to the top.

There are over 2,000 compound verbs utilized in fashionable Japanese, so studying just a few will assist add nuance to your vocabulary.

Japanese verbs about ideas and emotions

Expressing your self in phrases is simply as necessary as expressing your self with emotions. Do each on the similar time with these verbs!

Do you know? The character 笑, used within the phrase for “to chuckle,” is likely one of the Japanese methods of claiming the web slang “lol.” It could additionally seem as a easy “w” for the primary letter of “warai,” the noun model of “warau.”

Japanese verbs about hobbies

When looking for issues in widespread with others, hobbies are an amazing place to start out. Inform new pals what you want (or don’t like!) to do in Japanese to get in some nice language apply.

To say you want one thing, add the verb to the phrase ~no ga suki desu (～のが好きです). For an exercise you dislike, use ~no ga kirai desu (～のが嫌いです) as an alternative. Understand that the latter can come off strongly!

• Kurarinetto o fuku no ga suki desu.（クラリネットを吹くのが好きです。） = I like taking part in the clarinet.
• Horā eiga o miru no ga kirai desu.（ホラー映画を見るのが嫌いです。）= I hate watching horror films.

Japanese verbs about work and faculty

Wish to inform somebody you’re finding out Japanese? With these verbs, you possibly can inform all of them about your language studying journey and the way it isn’t as onerous to be taught Japanese as you had thought.

The distinction between the verbs hataraku and tsutomeru is in regards to the type of work being accomplished. Hataraku is a extra common verb for “to work” whatever the job, whether or not it’s part-time or full-time, freelance or salaried. Tsutomeru is extra formal and is used when talking about somebody’s position as part of the corporate, particularly for speaking about employment fairly than labor. It’s additionally necessary to keep in mind that hataraku makes use of the Japanese particle de (で) after the corporate or enterprise, whereas tsutomeru makes use of the particle ni (に).

• Getsuyōbi kara kinyōbi made makkudonarudo de hatarakimasu.（月曜日から金曜日までマックドナルドで働きます。）= I work at McDonald’s on Monday by way of Friday.
• Kikai gishi to shite mitsubishi jūkōgyō ni tsutometeimasu.（機械技師として三菱重工業に勤めています。）= I work for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as a mechanical engineer.

Enjoyable reality: Kanji means “Chinese language characters,” however some kanji have been made in Japan fairly than being launched from China, referred to as kokuji (国字). The kanji used for “to work” (働く) is one such instance, combining the weather which means “particular person” and “transfer” to create “work.”

Japanese verbs about preparing for the day and for mattress

Did you get up early right now? Or did you go to mattress late final night time? The Japanese verbs on this chart offers you the instruments you might want to discuss in regards to the starting and finish of your day.

Selecting between the three verbs for “to put on” and “to placed on” depends on the article of clothes. Garments like shirts and attire use kiru; pants, skirts, and footwear use haku; and hats use kaburu.

• Kenta wa aoi shatsu o kite jīnzu o haiteimasu. Bōshi mo kabutteimasu.（健太は青いシャツを着てジーンズを履いています。帽子も被っています。）= Kenta is carrying a blue shirt and denims. He’s additionally carrying a hat.

Japanese verbs about meals and eating

There are such a lot of other ways to get pleasure from Japanese meals, and there are simply as some ways to speak about it. Really feel assured ordering meals in Japanese with these verbs.

One other strategy to categorical starvation is to say “onaka ga peko peko” (お腹がぺこぺこ). This can be a extra informal phrase that falls into the class of reduplicative phrases that work as Japanese onomatopoeia. Repeating the identical sounds creates lots of cute Japanese phrases to precise every kind of emotions and circumstances!

Japanese verbs about bodily actions and sports activities

These verbs for shifting round are not any sweat. Whether or not you’re strolling to highschool or profitable an enormous sport, all of those phrases will turn out to be useful. 

Enjoying particular sports activities makes use of the verbs for “to do” (suru or yaru) fairly than a separate phrase for “to play.” Yaru is just for bodily actions (whereas suru can be utilized for actions like video video games), and it will probably have a stronger, extra forceful tone.

• Musuko wa sakkā o shimasu.（息子はサッカーをします。） = My son performs (actually: does) soccer.
• Doyōbi ni tenisu o yarō!（土曜日にテニスをやろう！）= Let’s play tennis on Saturday!