Japanese Auxiliary Verbs (助動詞・じょどうし）

Functional type of word

（さ）れる

Indicates causation

（ら）れる

Passive/ability, etc. (食べられる - edible/being eaten)

ない・ぬ・ん

Negation (食べない - not eat/I do not eat)

（よ）う

Volition (食べよう - I will eat/Let’s eat)

たい・たがる

Desire (食べたい - I want to eat)

ようだ

Similarity (食べるようだ - “It looks like (she/he) eats”). Used to translate to “it looks like,” “it seems that,” or “it appears that”.

そうだ

Hearsay (食べるそうだ - they say that (she/he) eats)

らしい

Used to report secondhand information (attached to the plain form of a verb, an いー adjective, or noun, typically dropping the final だ for nouns and なー adjectives) and to express “typical” or “quintessential” examples of a concept 食べるらしい

だ〜です・ます

Predication/Politneness (食べます- I eat)