Conjugating into Present Tense

Before learning how to conjugate verbs, you must know if the verb is a る (ru) verb or a U verb. The reason why you need to know the difference is because they conjugate differently, depending on the tense. There are also a couple of irregular verbs, that don't follow the proper way to conjugate verbs. You must know these ones so that you don't conjugate them incorrectly.

る Verbs: These verbs end in る.

Common る verbs:

食べる (taberu) to eat

見る (miru) to see

寝る (neru) to sleep

起きる (okiru) to wake up

教える (oshieru) to teach

出る (deru) to come out

着る (kiru) to wear

U Verbs: These verbs end in る、う、つ、す、く、ぐ、ぬ、ぶ, or む。You’ll know for sure that it is a U verb if it doesn't end in る. If it does end in a る、You can tell if it's a U verb when the preceding syllable has an a, o or u vowel. Other ones (i and e) will most likely be a る verb. However, you can't be sure, so the best way is to look up the verb in the dictionary.

Common U Verbs:

行く (iku) to go

話す (hanasu) to speak

死ぬ (shinu) to die

遊ぶ (asobu) to play

飲む (nomu) to drink

買う (kau) to buy

待つ (matsu) to wait

入る (hairu) to enter

Irregulars: There are many irregulars, but here are the two most common ones that you will definitely be using:

する (suru) to do

来る (kuru) to come

You will also start to notice that a lot of verbs end in する. These are the suru verbs, which are basically nouns attached to する to create a verb form. These conjugate the same way as する, because they all end in it.

From now on, when conjugating verbs, there will usually be ru, u and irregular forms.

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Present Polite Tense

(Used when talking with people you are not so close to or to people of higher level than you)

For る verbs: Remove the る and replace it with ます (masu).

Example: 食べます tabemasu (I) eat

For U verbs: Take last hiragana character and change it to it's i form. Below shows a table on how to do that. Then, add ます (masu) at the end.

る becomes り

う becomes い

つ becomes ち

す becomes し

く becomes き

ぐ becomes ぎ

ぬ becomes に

む becomes み

ぶ becomes び

Example: 買います kaimasu (I) buy

Irregulars:

する (suru) to do becomes します

来る (kuru) to come becomes きます

Present Plain Tense

(Used when talking with people you are close to)

When making something plain present, you just keep it as the infinitive form.

Example: 遊ぶ asobu (I) play

Present Polite Negative Tense

(Used when talking with people you are not so close to or to people of higher level than you)

Take the present polite form of the verb and replace it with ません.

Example: 食べません (I) don't eat

Present Plain Negative Tense

(Used when talking with people you are close to)

For る verbs: Remove the る and replace it with ない(nai).

Example: 食べない tabenai (I) don't eat

For U verbs: Remove last hiragana to an a character (shown in the chart below). Then add ない.

る becomes ら

う becomes わ

つ becomes た

す becomes さ

く becomes か

ぐ becomes が

ぬ becomes な

む becomes ま

ぶ becomes ば

Example: 遊ばない asobanai (I) don't play

Irregulars:

する (suru) to do becomes しない

来る (kuru) to come becomes こない

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I hope you learned how to conjugate into present tense. If you have any suggestions or other topics you would like to learn, please comment down below.

Sayounara!

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