How verbs are built: three verb groups, the sound chart, and how one verb becomes many forms.
Step 1
Verbs change shape
English adds words around a verb: will eat, can eat, didn’t eat. Japanese changes the end of the verb itself.
Every one of these is built by a rule. Learn the rules once and you can build them for any verb.
Step 2
Three verb types
Every verb belongs to one of three types. The type tells you which rules to use.
五段
Godan
The last sound moves through five vowels: a, i, u, e, o.
行く・話す・飲む
一段
Ichidan
Drop る, add the ending. The rest never changes.
食べる・見る・寝る
不規則
Irregular
する and 来る. They change their own sound too.
する・来る
Tip Noun + する (勉強する, 料理する) is not a new type. It conjugates exactly like する.
Step 3
Which type is it?
1
Is it する or 来る?
→ Irregular.
する・来る・勉強する
2
Does it end in る, with an i or e sound before the る?
→ Ichidan.
食べる (tabe-ru)・見る (mi-ru)・起きる (oki-ru)
3
Anything else?
→ Godan.
行く・飲む・買う・作る・ある
⚠ Common exceptions
These end in -iru or -eru but are godan:
Tip Not sure? Say the negative. Ichidan drops る: 食べない. Godan moves to the あ sound: 走らない.
Two verbs are read いる: 居る (to be, for people and animals) is ichidan → いない. 要る (to need) is godan → いらない.
Step 4
The sound chart
Godan verbs move up and down one column of the kana chart. The consonant stays; the vowel changes.
a
i
u
e
o
Click a column to see a verb from it. 話す (speak) lives in the s column:
⚠ Common exceptions
Verbs ending in う use わ in the a-row, not あ: 買う → 買わない (not ✕買あない), 言う → 言わない. These verbs once ended in ふ (かふ), and that old sound left the w behind. Their o-row is お, not を: 買おう (let’s buy). In the kana chart this row is わ・を, but を is only used as a particle.
Step 5
Where to next
That’s the whole system: find the type, then use its rule. Everything else builds on these three steps.