Japanese godan and ichidan verbs
The Japanese language has two main types of verbs which are referred to as godan verbs (五段動詞, godan-dōshi) and ichidan verbs (一段動詞, ichidan-dōshi).
Verb groups
Categories are important when conjugating Japanese verbs, since conjugation patterns vary according to the verb's category. For example, 切る (kiru) and 見る (miru) belong to different verb categories (godan and ichidan, respectively) and therefore follow different conjugation patterns. Most Japanese verbs are allocated into two categories:[1]
- Godan verbs (五段動詞, godan-dōshi, literally: "Class-5 verbs")
- Ichidan verbs (一段動詞, ichidan-dōshi, literally: "Class-1 verbs")
Statistically, there are far more godan verbs[2] than ichidan verbs.[3]
Sometimes categorization is expanded to include a third category of irregular verbs—which most notably include the verbs する (suru, to do) and 来る (kuru, to come). Classical Japanese had more verb groups, such as nidan verbs (二段動詞, nidan-dōshi, "Class-2 verbs")[4] and yodan verbs (四段動詞, yodan-dōshi, "Class-4 verbs"),[5][6] which are archaic in Modern Japanese.
Terminology
Within the terms "godan verbs" (五段動詞) and "ichidan verbs" (一段動詞), the numbers go (五, 5) and ichi (一, 1) correspond with the number of rows that a verb stem (or inflectional suffix) can span in the gojūon kana table. This is best visualized by comparing various verb conjugations to an extracted column of the gojūon table:
| Godan Form | Godan Verb 読む (to read) | Gojūon table 'ma' column | Ichidan Form | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negative | Polite | Dictionary | Potential | Volitional | |||||
| Negative | 読まない yomanai | ま (ma) | |||||||
| Polite | 読みます yomimasu | み (mi) | みない minai | みます mimasu | みる miru | みられる mirareru | みよう miyō | Ichidan Verb 見る (to see) | |
| Dictionary (no conjugation) | 読む yomu | む (mu) | |||||||
| Potential | 読める yomeru | め (me) | 止めない tomenai | 止めます tomemasu | 止める tomeru | 止められる tomerareru | 止めよう tomeyō | Ichidan Verb 止める (to stop) | |
| Volitional | 読もう yomō | も (mo) | |||||||
In the table above, the verb 読む (yomu, to read) uses kana from all 5 rows of the gojūon table in its inflectional suffix—ま (ma), み (mi), む (mu), め (me) and も (mo)—amongst its conjugations. Thus, it is classified as a "class-5" (or more formally "pentagrade") verb. Meanwhile, the verbs 見る (to see) and 止める (to stop) each use kana from only 1 row of the gojūon table in their verb-stem's suffix—み (mi) and め (me) respectively. Thus, they are classified as a "class-1" (or more formally "monograde") verbs.
Advanced terminology
As ichidan verbs only fall into the 〜い (-i) or 〜え (-e) rows, they can be further classified into the 上一段 (kami ichidan, "upper monograde") and 下一段 (shimo ichidan, "lower monograde") subgroups respectively. This is due to い (i) being above え (e) in the あいうえお (a-i-u-e-o) vowel ordering. In full terminology, the gojūon column name of the verb stem's suffix becomes a prefix of these subgroups. For example, the ichidan verb 見る (miru) has its verb stem in the upper row of the 'ma' column (マ行, magyō) and is formally classified as a マ行上一段活用 (magyō kami ichidan katsuyō) verb; meanwhile, the ichidan verb 止める (tomeru) has its verb stem in the lower row of the 'ma' column and is formally classified as a マ行下一段活用 (magyō shimo ichidan katsuyō) verb. Godan verbs are also formally classified into subgroups, but instead use the column name of the verb's inflectional suffix. For example, the godan verb 読む (yomu) is in the 'ma' column, so it is formally classified as a マ行五段活用 (magyō godan katsuyō) verb.
Japanese language education
Within Japanese language education, various terminologies are used in lieu of the Japanese nomenclature for "godan" and "ichidan" verbs.
| Godan verbs | Ichidan verbs | Irregular verbs | Example literature | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common terminology | Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar[7] |
| Group I | Group II | Group III | ||
| Uncommon terminology | う-verbs (u-verbs) | る-verbs (ru-verbs) | Irregular verbs | GENKI[1] |
| Rare terminology | Consonant stem verbs | Vowel stem verbs | - |
In literature adopting the "Group I / II / III" terminology, the terms (I), (II) or (III) may be notated beside verbs. Similarly, (う) or (る) may be notated beside verbs in literature adopting the "う-verbs / る-verbs" terminology.
Consonant and vowel nomenclature
The terms "consonant stem verbs" and "vowel stem verbs" come from a pattern that emerges after transliterating verbs into rōmaji. When considering the invariant part of the verb (the verb stem), the final letter determines the classification of the verb group. If the verb stem's final letter:
- is a consonant, then it is a consonant stem verb (godan verb)
- is a vowel, then it is a vowel stem verb (ichidan verb)
| 読む (to read) | 走る (to run) | 見る (to see) | 食べる (to eat) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negative | yom.anai 読まない | hashir.anai 走らない | mi.nai 見ない | tabe.nai 食べない |
| Polite form | yom.imasu 読みます | hashir.imasu 走ります | mi.masu 見ます | tabe.masu 食べます |
| Plain form | yom.u 読む | hashir.u 走る | mi.ru 見る | tabe.ru 食べる |
| Potential form | yom.eru 読める | hashir.eru 走れる | mi.rareru 見られる | tabe.rareru 食べられる |
| Volitional form | yom.ou 読もう | hashir.ou 走ろう | mi.you 見よう | tabe.you 食べよう |
| Invariant rōmaji | yom | hashir | mi | tabe |
| Final letter | m → consonant | r → consonant | i → vowel | e → vowel |
| Classification | Consonant stem | Consonant stem | Vowel stem | Vowel stem |
There are several flaws with the consonant and vowel nomenclature:[unbalanced opinion?]
- When godan verbs end with "う" (u), the verb's invariant stem always ends with a vowel, yet is still classified as having a consonant stem. For example, 買う (kau, to buy) has the vowel "a" as the invariant suffix, yet it is still categorized as a "consonant stem verb".
In these cases, this contradiction is resolved by a technicality where the verb's invariant stem is considered to end in the consonant w. The w is normally suppressed, but surfaces in the negative form, as seen in 買わない (kawanai, to not buy). Traditionally these verbs ended in -hu, which is still seen on occasion in historical kana usage, and thus unambiguously ended in h. - When godan verbs end with "つ" (tsu), the verb's invariant stem always ends with an "s" rather than a "t". Since the consonant stem terminology focuses on rōmaji, this could lead to conjugation errors. For example, 待つ (matsu, to wait) in its negative conjugation does not become "待つぁない" (matsanai) as the consonant stem system might have one believe; the correct conjugation is 待たない (matanai, to not wait).
- In the case of the past-tense and te forms of conjugation, the 'invariant' stem changes such that the consonant is removed from all godan verbs (except verbs ending in "つ" (tsu) or "す" (su)). This means the defining characteristic of consonant stem verbs cannot be used to define consonant stem verbs for the past-tense or te forms. The true "invariant stem", which is consistent amongst all conjugations, precedes the so-called "invariant consonant".
- This nomenclature is an abstract perspective, since a consonant stem itself never occurs independently; Japanese words are concretely formed with morae, where pairs of consonant and vowel phonemes are indivisible. Therefore, while the stem of 読む (yomu) is "yom-", the bare yom is not an independent word and is impossible to write in kana.
This means, ironically, that the concepts of "consonant stems" and "vowel stems" are difficult to express in Japanese and seem unnatural to native speakers. - Paradoxically, consonant stem verbs conjugate to include all 5 Japanese vowels, whilst the vowel stem verbs are limited to manifesting the same vowel in all conjugates. As such, the consonant stem verb and vowel stem verb terminologies are prone to nomenclature confusion.
Verb classification
Classifying verbs is simple in theory:
- Take the verb in its plain, negative form. The result will be:
verb-stem+ない (nai) - If the last character of the
verb-stem(ignoring the "ない"):
- rhymes with あ (a), then it is a godan verb
- rhymes with い (i) or え (e), then it is an ichidan verb
| Negative verb | Last character of verb stem | Rhymes with | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| 思わない (omowanai, to not think) | わ (wa) | あ (a) → | Godan verb |
| 行かない (ikanai, to not go) | か (ka) | あ (a) → | Godan verb |
| 起きない (okinai, to not wake up) | き (ki) | い (i) → | Ichidan verb |
| 食べない (tabenai, to not eat) | べ (be) | え (e) → | Ichidan verb |
This classification system works for all Japanese verbs, with three exceptions: ある (aru) is a godan verb, and both しない (shinai) and こない (konai) are instead classified as irregular verbs.[7]
Dot notation
In some Japanese dictionaries, the readings of conjugable words may have the stem and the inflectional suffix separated by a dot (・). For example, the adjective 赤い (akai, red) may be written as あか・い (aka·i) to separate the static prefix from the dynamic suffix.
This system also describes the verb group classification: in godan verbs, the dot is placed before the last kana; in ichidan verbs, the dot is placed before the last 2 kana (except for 2-kana ichidan verbs, which have no dot).
| 3-kana verbs | 2-kana verbs | |
|---|---|---|
| Godan verbs | かえ・る (kae·ru, to return) | い・る (i·ru, to need) |
| Ichidan verbs | か・える (ka·eru, to change) | いる (iru, to exist) |
However, regardless of the dot's position, the inflectional suffix is always the last kana of any ichidan verb.
Naive verb classification
A caveat of accurately classifying verb groups is that you must have pre-existing knowledge of the verb's negative form. In practice, people tend to learn the verb's plain form first. As such, Japanese language educators usually teach strategies for naive verb classification. Whilst such strategies are not comprehensive, they generally remain useful in the context of regular daily conversations that language beginners will likely encounter. Here is one such strategy:
| Step | Verb (Plain Form) | If Yes | If Not |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is the verb one of the most common "exceptions": 要る (iru, to need), 入る (hairu, to enter), 走る (hashiru, to run), 帰る (kaeru, to return, to go home), 切る (kiru, to cut), 知る (shiru, to know), 喋る (shaberu, to talk) | Godan verb Group 1 | Go to Step 2 |
| 2 | Does the verb suffix rhyme with 〜いる (-iru) or 〜える (-eru)? | Ichidan verb Group 2 | Go to Step 3 |
| 3 | Is the verb する (suru, to do) or 来る (kuru, to come)? | Irregular verb Group 3 | Godan verb Group 1 |
Naive strategies, such as this one, tend to misidentify godan verbs ending with る (ru)—specifically, when godan verbs rhyme with 〜いる (-iru) or 〜える (-eru). Therefore, when an ichidan verb is concluded from a naive strategy, it is more efficient to confirm the verb's classification in a dictionary. However, there are other rules-of-thumb to more accurately discriminate such verbs.
Rules of thumb
If a dictionary is unavailable, it becomes difficult to discriminate godan verbs from ichidan verbs when they rhyme with 〜いる (-iru) or 〜える (-eru). The following heuristics aim to improve the accuracy of naive classification:
- There are far more godan verbs[2] than ichidan verbs.[3]
- Verbs that do not rhyme with 〜いる (-iru) or 〜える (-eru) are godan verbs.
- This includes verbs that rhyme with 〜ある (-aru), 〜うる (-uru) and 〜おる (-oru), which are godan verbs.
- The majority of verbs that rhyme with 〜いる (-iru) are godan verbs.
- 248 of the 419 〜いる (-iru) verbs [ca. 60%] listed in JMdict are godan verbs.[citation needed]
- The majority of verbs that rhyme with 〜える (-eru) are ichidan verbs.
- 2886 of the 3013 〜える (-eru) verbs [ca. 95%] listed in JMdict are ichidan verbs.[citation needed]
Kana and kanji based heuristics for 〜いる (-iru) and 〜える (-eru) verbs:
- Verbs written entirely in hiragana are godan verbs. For example, びびる (bibiru, to be surprised) and のめる (nomeru, to fall forward) are godan verbs.
- Kanji verbs with 1 okurigana and 3+ syllables are godan verbs. For example, 契る (chi-gi-ru, to pledge) and 嘲る (a-za-ke-ru, to ridicule) are godan verbs.
- Kanji verbs with 2 okurigana are usually ichidan verbs. For example, 起きる (okiru, to get up) and 食べる (taberu, to eat) are ichidan verbs.
- Kanji verbs with 2 syllables are inconclusive. For example, 切る (ki-ru) and 見る (mi-ru) are both 2-syllable verbs, yet belong to different categories (godan and ichidan, respectively)
Godan verbs resembling ichidan verbs
There are many godan verbs which may be mistaken for being ichidan verbs in some cases . On the surface, this may seem like a problem that only affects conjugation patterns, since godan verbs and ichidan verbs conjugate differently . However there are many homophone verbs that, despite sharing the same pronunciation, having different meanings and belong to different verb groups. For example:
| Godan verbs | Identical Pronunciation | Ichidan verbs |
|---|---|---|
| 要る (to need) | iru | 居る (to exist) |
| 切る (to cut) | kiru | 着る (to put on clothing) |
| 帰る (to go home) | kaeru | 変える (to change) |
| 湿る (to be damp/wet) | shimeru | 閉める (to close) |
When reading homophone verbs such as these, the correct word meaning can be ascertained through the different kanji or through context. In the case of speech, the correct word meaning can still be ascertained because many homophones have different intonations. However, ambiguity is usually removed if the homophone verbs have been conjugated somehow, because different word groups conjugate with slightly varying pronunciations. For example:
| Verb conjugation | kiru | kaeru | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godan verb 切る (to cut) | Ichidan verb 着る (to put on clothing) | Godan verb 帰る (to go home) | Ichidan verb 変える (to change) | |||
| Negative | 切らない kiranai | 着ない kinai | 帰らない kaeranai | 変えない kaenai | ||
| Polite form | 切ります kirimasu | 着ます kimasu | 帰ります kaerimasu | 変えます kaemasu | ||
| Potential form | 切れる kireru | 着られる kirareru | 帰れる kaereru | 変えられる kaerareru | ||
| Volitional form | 切ろう kirō | 着よう kiyō | 帰ろう kaerō | 変えよう kaeyō | ||
Since there are so many godan verbs that resemble ichidan verbs, it is impractical to create or memorize an exhaustive list of words.
See also
References
- ^ a b Banno, Eri; Ikeda, Yoko; Ohno, Yutaka; Shinagawa, Chikako; Tokashiki, Kyoko (2020). "Lesson 3, Grammar 1: Verb Conjugation". GENKI: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese I (3 ed.). Tokyo, Japan: The Japan Times. pp. 86–88. ISBN 978-4-7890-1730-5.
- ^ a b "JMdictDB - Godan Verbs - 7434 Search results". www.edrdg.org. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ a b "JMdictDB - Ichidan Verbs - 3733 Search results". www.edrdg.org. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "JMdictDB - Nidan Verbs - 61 Search results". www.edrdg.org. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ "JMdictDB - Yodan Verbs - 62 Search results". www.edrdg.org. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
- ^ Wixted, John Timothy (2006). "Verb Basics". A Handbook to Classical Japanese. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University East Asia Program. pp. 28–32. ISBN 978-1-933947-04-4.
- ^ a b Makino, Seiichi; Tsutsui, Michio (1989). A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (80 ed.). Tokyo, Japan: The Japan Times. p. 578. ISBN 978-47-89004-54-1.
External links
- Archive of the Usenet newsgroup sci.lang.japan forums, a non-exhaustive list of ~iru and ~eru godan verbs
- , a concise summary of all Japanese verbs conjugations on one sheet of A4