Japanese has three types of verbs – Irregular, Ichidan and Yodan. They are conjugated in different ways when handling the past, present, past negative, and present negative.

Verb Types

• Irregular – There are rare. They have no “stem” word. The whole word changes depending on it’s use.
• Ichidan – These are more common, but still rare. They end in “-eru” or “-iru”.
• Yodan – This are the most common set of verbs

Verb Parts

• stem – never changes
• base – changes on past/present/conjugation
• ending – politeness

Verbs
For Ichidan and Yodan verbs you can use the chart at Hiragan Information to find the values for the different bases.

Type	Verb	Meaning	Stem	Base I	Base II	Base III (dictionary)	Base IV	Base V
Irreguar	suru	to do	–	shi	shi	suru	sure	shiyo
Irreguar	kuru	to come	–	ko	ki	kuru	kure	koyo
Ichidan	taberu	to eat	tabe	–	–	ru	re	yo
Ichidan	miru	to see	mi	–	–	ru	re	yo
Ichidan	ageru	to give	age	–	–	ru	re	yo
Yodan	au	..	a	wa	i	u	e	o
Yodan	tsukuru	to make	tsuku	ri	ra	ru	re	ro
Yodan	kaku	to write	ka	ka	ki	ku	ke	ko
Yodan	hanasu	to speak	hana	sa	shi	su	se	so
Yodan	yomu	to read	yo	ma	mi	mu	me	mo
Yodan	wakaru	to undersatnd	waka	ri	ra	ru	re	ro
Yodan	wasuru	to forgot	wasu	ri	ra	ru	re	ro
Yodan	nomu	to drink	nom	i	a	u	e	o
???	desu	is, are	–	–	–	–	–	–

To be integrated:

ojamashimasu – gratitude when visiting other’s home (non-friend?)

itadakimasu – What is said before they eat to show gratitude – More literal meaning is “I will accept/take this.”

Conjugation
Conjugating into present and past forms of the verbs

Form	Present	Present Negative	Past	Past Negative
desu	desu (It is, Are)	dewa arimasen (Is not, Are not)	deshita (It is, are)	dewa arimasen deshita (Was not)
Base II + masu	masu (will do)	masen (will not)	mashita (was)	masen deshita (wasn’t)