I Love KanjiJapanese verb conjugator
Japanese verbs conjugate by group: ichidan verbs drop る (食べる → 食べます), godan verbs change their last syllable (書く → 書きます), and する and 来る are irregular. Type a verb or adjective below to see all its forms.
Type a verb in dictionary form
Example – 書く (kaku, to write):
| Dictionary | 書く | kaku |
| Polite (~masu) | 書きます | kakimasu |
| Negative | 書かない | kakanai |
| Polite negative | 書きません | kakimasen |
| Past | 書いた | kaita |
| Polite past | 書きました | kakimashita |
| Negative past | 書かなかった | kakanakatta |
| Te-form | 書いて | kaite |
| Potential | 書ける | kakeru |
| Passive | 書かれる | kakareru |
| Causative | 書かせる | kakaseru |
| Volitional | 書こう | kakou |
| Imperative | 書け | kake |
| Conditional (~ba) | 書けば | kakeba |
The three verb groups
| Group | Examples | ~ます form | Te-form |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ichidan (る-verbs) | 食べる, 見る | 食べます, 見ます | 食べて, 見て |
| Godan (う-verbs) | 書く, 飲む, 帰る | 書きます, 飲みます, 帰ります | 書いて, 飲んで, 帰って |
| Irregular | する, 来る | します, 来ます (きます) | して, 来て (きて) |
Learn how the te-form is built in the te-form lesson. Godan verb (う-verb), irregular te-form: 行く becomes 行って, not 行いて.
Questions
How does Japanese verb conjugation work?
Japanese verbs fall into three groups: ichidan (る-verbs like 食べる), godan (う-verbs like 書く) and two irregular verbs (する and 来る). Each group changes its ending in a regular way to make forms such as ます, ない and て.
How do I know if a verb ending in る is ichidan or godan?
If the vowel before る is i or e (たべる, みる) it is usually ichidan – but some common verbs are godan anyway, such as 帰る, 入る, 走る and 知る. The conjugator looks verbs up in JMdict to get this right.
Which forms should I learn first?
The ます form, the plain negative (ない), the past (た) and the te-form (て). Most other forms build on these.
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Last reviewed 2026-10-09 by the I Love Kanji team.