Lesson 8

Verb Bases In Japanese

Using Verb Bases

Now that you know about 30 Japanese verbs and can conjugate them, I'll show you what you can do with those verb bases. You may want to regularly refer to the lessons on Godan verbs and Ichidan verbs while learning these.

The following chart applies to all Japanese verbs unless otherwise noted.

ひらがな - Hiragana	Romaji (English Letters)	English Meaning
Base 1 + ない	Base 1 + nai	plain form negative (will not verb)
Base 1 + なかった	Base 1 + nakatta	plain form past negative (did not verb)
Base 2 + ます	Base 2 + masu	polite form present/future tense
Base 2 + ました	Base 2 + mashita	polite form past tense
Base 2 + ません	Base 2 + masen	polite form negative (will not verb)
Base 2 + ませんでした	Base 2 + masen deshita	polite form past negative (did not verb)
Base 2 + たい	Base 2 + tai	want to verb (add です (desu) to make it polite)
Base 3	Base 3	plain form present/future tense
Base 4 + ば	Base 4 + ba	if verb
Base 4 + る	Base 4 + ru	plain form can verb (Godan verbs only) (verb now becomes an Ichidan verb)
Base 4 + ます	Base 4 + masu	polite form can verb (can be changed like above)
Base 5 + とする	Base 5 + to suru	try to verb (this suru is the same verb learned in lesson 7 (to do something))
Base "te" + 欲しい	Base "te" + hoshii	want someone else to verb (hoshii is an adjective which will be covered in the next lesson)
Base "te"	Base "te"	plain form command
Base "te" + 下さい	Base "te" + kudasai	polite form command
Base "te" + いる	Base "te" + iru	plain form presently verbing (this iru is the same verb learned in lesson 7 (to exist (animate))
Base "te" + います	Base "te" + imasu	polite form presently verbing (can be changed like above)
Base "ta"	Base "ta"	plain form past tense
Base "ta" + ら	Base "ta" + ra	if and when I verb (similar to Base 4 + ba)
Base "ta" + りする	Base "ta" + ri suru	do such things as... (this suru is also the same verb learned in lesson 7 (to do something))

Japanese Verb Conjugation (Ichidan + Irregular)

Descriptive Words In Japanese (Adjectives And Adverbs)