Lesson 2: An Introduction to Conjugation (Verbs and
Adjectives)
This lesson includes a brief look into the conjugation of verbs and adjectives. At this
time, it is not important to memorize specific conjugations. It is, however, important to
realize their importance and understand just how Japanese verbs and adjectives work in
regards to conjugation. Also included are some other basic information that is important
to understanding the structure of the Japanese language.
A. Conjugated verbs for usage: Verbs in Japanese are found in their plan form, such as
いる and ねる. The plain form of the verb literally means: “to verb.” So for instance,
the verb いる is “to exist.” Plain form is a form that is used when spoken, but it is not
the common form (plain form is also sometimes called dictionary form as that’s how it
should appear in their dictionary). The verb has to be conjugated into present form to be
used like in the examples below.
わたしわえいがをみます.
I am watching a movie. (sound 1)
ハンバーガーをたべます.
I am eating a hamburger. (sound 2)
In these examples, the verbs みる and たべる were used. To change them into their
present form is very easy, all you have to do is take off the ending and add ます. Thus
you get, みます and たべます. There are some irregulars in this as well.
する
くる
becomes
becomes
します
きます (sound 3)
B. Using です: There are a couple different ways to end a sentence in Japanese, but we
will work with the first two in this lesson. They are with a verb (which is easy enough),
or, you can end it with です. For ending a sentence with a verb, see the examples above.
For です though, the sentence pattern is pretty easy: Noun です. You can add things
before the noun like: それ or even わたしは. We will go over this in greater detail in a
later sentence. Just understand that です takes the place of the verb ending. Thus, it
conjugates like one.
C. Using adjectives as nouns and as adjectives: It is important to be able to tell whether
an adjective is actually being used as an adjective, or as a noun. The key is to look at the
ending. There are two different types of adjectives (which I’ll briefly cover in the next
section), and you can tell if an adjective is an adjective if it has its ending. If it doesn’t, it
is being used as a noun.
D. い-adj and な-adj: So, how do you tell the difference between adjectives? Once again,
look at the ending! But, beware! Sometimes they can be confusing. For example:
Lesson 1-1
きれい, though it ends with い but in reality, it is a な-adj
So, just watch out for those kinds of things. The best way to know the difference is just
by memorization. When it has an い or な at the end though, it’s action is considered
adjective.
Lesson 1-2