Japanese · Rung 9 of 30

Verbs: ます, negative and past

The Japanese verb always comes last and does not change with person: 食べます covers “I eat”, “you eat” and “they eat”. What changes is tense and politeness. The ます form gives you four boxes and you can already speak: 食べます (I eat), 食べません (I don't eat), 食べました (I ate), 食べませんでした (I didn't eat). There is no separate future: 明日行きます is “I'm going tomorrow”. Verbs fall into three groups, and knowing which is which decides everything that follows: group 1 ends in a syllable with u (飲む, 書く, 話す), group 2 in える or いる (食べる, 見る), and there are only two irregulars, する (to do) and 来る (to come).

Where this sits

Comes after
Particles: は, が, を, に, で
Opens up
The て form, Dictionary form and plain style

Exercises from this rung

Generated by the app, from easiest to hardest

  1. 毎朝コーヒーを___。

    • 飲みます
    • 飲みません
    • 飲みました
    • 飲む

    Why The ます form is the polite present and also covers habits and the future. 飲む is the dictionary form: correct, but plain, and it is not mixed with the polite register in the same sentence.

    easier

  2. 毎日日本語を___。

    • 勉強しました
    • 勉強する
    • 勉強しません
    • 勉強します

    Why A noun plus する forms a whole verb, and する is one of the two irregulars: します, しました, して. With 毎日 you add no に, because it is a frequency, not a specific moment.

    in between

  3. 映画を見___行きます。

    • に
    • と
    • を
    • で

    Why ます stem + に + a movement verb expresses the purpose of going: 見に行く, 食べに来る. The dictionary form will not do there.

    harder