Elementary Japenese Verb Rules

“__” verbs are made up of a base which ends with either e or i plus the suffix __.

*All __-verbs, therefore, end with e+ru or i+ru.

Ru

“__”-verbs are made up of a consonant-final base plus __.

U

Irregular Verb: する

To Do

Irregular Verb: くる

To Come

“する” can form a complex verb when preceded by a noun.

Suru

勉 強 (べんきょう)する (beNkyoo suru)

To Study

結婚 (けっこん) する (kekkoN suru)

To Marry

報告(ほうこく)する (hookoku suru)

To Report

説明 (せつめい)する (setsumee suru)

To Explain

With ru-verbs, you simply replace ru with “ます”(affirmative)

Masu

With ru-verbs, you simply replace ru with “ません”(negative)

Masen

With u-verbs, you simply replace u with “います”(affirmative)

Imasu

With u-verbs, you simply replace u with “いません”(negative)

Imasen