Japanese verbs: ます・ない・て・た
Identify the verb group before practising polite forms, plain negatives, the te form and the plain past.
Learn the dictionary form and group together. 帰る ends in る but is a group-one verb; 食べる is group two. Knowing only the final letter is not enough to choose a rule.
Compare one verb across the four forms and say what changed. The て form connects to another expression; it does not by itself make every sentence a request. Use the complete example to understand the meaning.
Recognise verb groups
Learn a verb with its group. A final る does not by itself tell you whether a verb belongs to the ichidan group.
毎日、学校に行きます。
I go to school every day.
Practise this unit →Use polite verb forms
Use the correct stem before ます, ません and ました. These endings mark politeness and tense separately from the verb group.
昨日、音楽を聞きました。
I listened to music yesterday.
Practise this unit →Make plain negatives
For godan verbs, use the a-row before ない; verbs ending in う use わない. Ichidan verbs drop る.
今日は肉を食べない。
I will not eat meat today.
Practise this unit →Form te correctly
The て-form changes according to the verb ending. Learn the special form 行って alongside the regular patterns.
少し待ってください。
Please wait a moment.
Practise this unit →Form plain past verbs
The plain past follows the sound changes of the て-form. Replace て with た and で with だ.
昨日、友達に会った。
I met a friend yesterday.
Practise this unit →Check with three questions
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History and self-check answers
The answers below are for self-study and do not record a score. Mixed practice uses topics you have practised.
Recorded questions in this set: 0
Correct on first attempt: 0