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Japanese Group 1 Verbs (Chart and Explaination)
Topic Started: Apr 6 2010, 07:40 PM (619 Views)
ShiKage
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Here, I will explain how to learn verbs with different uses. For the basic chart, please refer to this :

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For starters, let's go into group one verbs. These are the basic verbs that are pretty easy. For the example, I will use the word "iimasu" or Japanese for "to say."

For Group One verbs, the first character will always stay the same. However, the second character will always change. To recognize Group One verbs, all you have to look at is the second character. It's really easy to tell them apart, because group one verbs will always use "i" as the second character in formal speech or "u" as the second character in formal speech. As for the verb example, look at this chart (for the moment, I will dismiss "te" forms):

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As you can see, for group one verbs, the second character will ALWAYS change.

*For the first (あ) form, the first character stays the same, the second character goes to whatever it would be with あ as the sound. So, if you were to say のみます (to drink) in negative form, it would be のまない. See what changed? The second character went from み (mi) to ま (ma). This is used for negative speech.

*For the second (い) form, the second character will always be the character's い sound and you only tag on ます to the end of it. For instance, to drink would be "のみます." The second character (み) will always have the い sound. This is use for formal speech.

*For the third (う) form, the second character will always be changed to the character with the う sound. To go with the examples above, のみます would be changed to のむ. み(mi) is changed to む(mu). This is used for casual speech and is also what you see in dictionaries.

*For the fourth (え) form, the second character will always change to its え sound. In のみます, it would be (for "if" statements) のめば. The み(mi) changes to め(me) and you attach the ば to make it an "if" statement. For command forms, you would literally do the same thing, but drop the ば. If you were commanding someone to drink something, it would be "のめ!"

*The fifth (お) form is a double "o" form. It can be used for commands or can be used for things like, "Let's drink some beer!" For this, you would take the second character and make it into its お sound, then attach a う to the end of it, since in "oo" forms in Japanese, the second お is almost always changed to a う. So, if you were to say, "Let's drink some beer," it would be, "ビールをのもう!"

Understood? If you have any problems with understanding any of this, please post a comment and I will try to reply as fast as I can with a clear explaination.
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