Japanese verb groups;　　　　　　　　ます形 (~masu) and じしょ形 (dictionary form)

Aug 17, 20204 min read

The process of dividing the verbs into groups would be easier for people who have learned the dictionary forms first. If you don't know the dictionary forms, I will be explaining how to change ~masu forms to dictionary forms.

This is so basic still I see students struggle with it everyday. Why? One small mistake. Learning ~masu forms first could be useful in the beginning, but, when it comes to division of verbs in groups and conjugating them later, dictionary forms じしょ形 will be your savior.

Division of the verbs in the groups should be your first step. People often miss this. They skip to 'te' て forms or 'ta' た forms and later they find that they haven't learned either. 🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️ 残念！

I can go on and on about the mistakes that should be avoided. Since this could take a while, for today, let's focus on

🌸How to divide the verbs, their ~masu forms and their dictionary forms🌸

✅Important points to remember :

There are 3 groups of verb in Japanese language
Each group doesn't necessarily end with a different sound
Each group conjugates differently

Group 3

This group has only 2 verbs. These are called irregular verbs.

Since these are only two in number, instead of applying any logic or rules, I suggest you just learn them as it is.

Group 2

The verbs of this group generally end with 'ru' る sound. Now, I say generally because there are always exceptions to every rule when you are studying a language.

Since some of the Group 1 verbs also end in 'ru' る sound, it is better that we check that the verb again.

To do this, look at the sound just before 'ru'. If the sound is 'e' or 'i', then it is Group 2.

There are of course exceptions to this rule too. Some verbs like かえる (to return), きる ( to cut), 知る (to know), 入る (to enter) and はしる (to run) are some of the exceptions. These verbs, end in 'ru', have either 'i' or 'e' at the end, but still are not in Group 2. These are Group 1 verbs.

To download the verb chart, click here.

Group 1

Understanding this group could take a little longer than the other two, but, I will try to make this as simple as it can be.

This group has 9 sub groups. All the verbs that end in either of these, would be in Group 1.

Verbs ending in

You can see here that some of the Group 1 verbs end in 'ru' too. So, how can you identify if the verb is Group 1 　or Group 2?

Follow these 2 steps:

Observe the verb and see if the sound before 'ru' is 'i' or 'e'. If yes, it is a Group 2 verb. (Exceptions given above)
If the sound before 'ru' is 'a', 'u' or 'o', it is Group 1.

let's see some examples;

やる ends with 'ru' but the sound before that is of 'a' and therefore it is Group 1.

Similarly, とる has 'ru' at the end but also has 'o' sound before it so, it is Group 1.

That's it!

This is pretty much it for the division of verbs.

Now, let's see what can we do if you don't know dictionary forms.

There is absolutely no need to panic!

This process would become easier if you have a Hiragana chart.

You can refer to the one that you already have or download this cheat chart that I created.