🇯🇵 Japanese for beginners (N5) · Chapter 8

Verbs: the masu form, present and past

One Japanese verb form works for I, you, he, she and they, male or female — たべます covers खाता हूँ, खाती हो and खाते हैं — and four endings give you present, past and both negatives.

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The basics

The masu form is the polite form of a Japanese verb — たべます (eat), いきます (go), します (do) — and the one you use with teachers, colleagues and strangers.

The problem it solves: every sentence so far ended in です, which only says what something is. To say what you do — eat, go, study, work — you need verbs, and the masu form is the safe, polite one N5 and every first conversation are built on.

The mental model: a stem plus one of four endings:

• ～ます — do / will do
• ～ません — don't / won't
• ～ました — did
• ～ませんでした — didn't

There is no change for person, number or gender — たべます is 'I eat', 'she eats' and 'they eat'. To get the stem from the dictionary form, sort the verb into one of three groups: る-verbs drop る (たべる → たべます), う-verbs shift their last sound to the i-column (のむ → のみます), and two irregulars: する → します, くる → きます.

Explained

In Hindi, 'eat' alone has खाता हूँ, खाती हूँ, खाते हैं, खाओगे, खाया, खाई… depending on who and when.

In polite Japanese:

わたし は たべます · かのじょ は たべます · かれら は たべます

Same word. No person, no number, no gender. Four endings — ます, ません, ました, ませんでした — and you have present, past and both negatives for every verb.

One verb, four endings

                 positive          negative
non-past   たべます            たべません
           I eat / will eat    I don't / won't eat
past       たべました          たべませんでした
           I ate               I didn't eat

Time words decide present vs future:

まいにち チャイ を のみます。 — I drink chai every day.

あした ムンバイ に いきます。 — I'll go to Mumbai tomorrow.

きのう えいが を みました。 — I watched a film yesterday.

Dictionary form → masu form, by group

Group 2 — る-verbs (end in -iru or -eru): drop る, add ます.

たべる taberu  → たべます   eat
みる   miru    → みます     see, watch
おきる okiru   → おきます   get up
ねる   neru    → ねます     sleep

Group 1 — う-verbs: final u-sound → i-sound, add ます.

かう   kau     → かいます   buy
かく   kaku    → かきます   write
はなす hanasu  → はなします speak
まつ   matsu   → まちます   wait
のむ   nomu    → のみます   drink
いく   iku     → いきます   go
かえる kaeru   → かえります go home  ← looks Group 2!

Group 3 — irregular: する → します (do) · くる → きます (come). Any noun + する is Group 3: べんきょう する → べんきょう します.

Watch five verbs get conjugated

The only real decision is the group. After that, ます / ません / ました / ませんでした are pure mechanics.

Monday morning with a Japanese manager in Pune

Suzuki: おはようございます。しゅうまつ に なに を しました か。 (What did you do at the weekend?)

Aditya: どようび に ともだち と クリケット を しました。

Suzuki: いい です ね。にちようび は？

Aditya: にちようび は どこ も いきませんでした。うち で えいが を みました。

Suzuki: そう です か。きょう は なんじ に かえります か。

Aditya: ろくじ に かえります。

did · didn't go · watched · will go home — four endings, zero gender or person agreement to think about. (どこ も + negative = 'nowhere'.)

Inviting someone: ませんか and ましょう

Two bonus endings on the same stem, and you'll hear them constantly:

～ませんか — 'won't you…?' — a polite invitation:

いっしょ に ひるごはん を たべませんか。 — Would you like to have lunch together?

～ましょう — 'let's…':

はい、たべましょう！ — Yes, let's eat!

The negative question is the polite one, just as 'Won't you have some tea?' sounds warmer than 'Do you want tea?' — or a Hindi 'चाय नहीं लेंगे?'

Remember it

• 'Mas, mas-en, mash-ta, mas-en-desh-ta' — chant the four endings like a mantra
• Group 2 test: ends in -iru / -eru? Probably drop る. (Probably — check the exceptions.)
• Group 1 rule: slide one step down the column: く→き, す→し, つ→ち, む→み, う→い, る→り
• The exceptions club: かえる, はいる, しる, きる (cut), はしる — they're all secretly Group 1
• Irregulars: する→します, くる→きます

One line: find the group, get the stem, add the ending.

Mistakes Indian learners make

• Looking for gender/person endings. There aren't any: かのじょ は たべます — 'she eats' — uses the same たべます as 'I eat'.
• Saying ma-su. Natural speech is mas; ました is close to mashta.
• かう → かわます. The u-ending verb goes to い: かいます. (わ appears only in other forms.)
• くる → くります. It's きます.
• Treating every -eru verb as Group 2. かえる (go home) → かえります; かえる (change) → かえます. Same kana, different verbs — learn group with the word.
• Present tense for 'I will' feels wrong — but ます is the future: あした いきます.
• Particles left behind — the verb needs を, に, で from lesson 7: えいが を みます.

Words to know

In two minutes

• The masu form is the polite verb form; it never changes for person, number or gender.
• Four endings: ます (do/will), ません (don't), ました (did), ませんでした (didn't).
• ます is non-past: まいにち たべます (habit) and あした たべます (future) use the same form.
• Group 2 (る-verbs, ending -iru/-eru): drop る, add ます — たべる → たべます.
• Group 1 (う-verbs): move the final u-sound to the i-sound, add ます — のむ → のみます, かう → かいます.
• Group 3: する → します, くる → きます — and noun + する verbs like べんきょうする.
• Some -eru/-iru verbs are secretly Group 1: かえる → かえります, はいる → はいります.
• ます is said 'mas' and ました 'mashta' — the u and the i soften.

Test yourself

There are 9 questions, 3 puzzles and 5 recall cards for this lesson in the app — the recall cards come back on later days, just before you would forget.