How to form past and present for ru-verbs and u-verbs
Japanese Tenses Unraveled: Your Essential Guide: How to form past and present for ru-verbs and u-verbs
To form the past and present tenses for ru-verbs and u-verbs in Japanese, here’s a clear summary:
Ru-verbs (Ichidan verbs)
- Present (dictionary/plain form): The verb ends in る (ru), e.g., 食べる (taberu) “to eat”.
- Present polite form: Drop the る and add ます, e.g., 食べます (tabemasu).
- Past (plain form): Drop the る and add た, e.g., 食べた (tabeta).
- Past polite form: Drop the る and add ました, e.g., 食べました (tabemashita).
U-verbs (Godan verbs)
- Present (dictionary/plain form): The verb ends in a u vowel sound (except ru verbs that are ru-verbs), e.g., 読む (yomu) “to read”.
- Present polite form: Change the final u-vowel sound to its corresponding i-vowel sound and add ます, e.g., 読みます (yomimasu).
- Past (plain form): The past tense varies depending on the final syllable but often ends in った, んだ, いた, or った, e.g., 読んだ (yonda).
- Past polite form: Change the final u-vowel sound to i-vowel and add ました, e.g., 読みました (yomimashita).
This means ru-verbs have a simpler conjugation pattern by just dropping る and adding corresponding endings, while u-verbs undergo a sound change before adding conjugation endings.
Examples:
- Ru-verb: 食べる (taberu)
- Present polite: 食べます
- Past plain: 食べた
- U-verb: 読む (yomu)
- Present polite: 読みます
- Past plain: 読んだ
This distinction is fundamental in Japanese verb conjugation. 1, 2, 7, 9, 10