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Polite forms
Questions and negatives
Vocabulary
Japanese / English translation exercises
English / Japanese translation exercises
Conjugations: Ren'youkei (連用形)
In modern Japanese there are two types of verbs known as group 2,
or ni dan katsuyou (二段活用) and group 4, or yo dan katsuyou (四段活用)
verbs. Each group has its own conjugations. After dealing with the
rentaikei (連体形) in lesson 2, it is now time for the second conjugation:
The Ren'youkei (連用形).
Verbs belong to group 2*
when the rentaikei conjugation ends on "-eru" or "-iru".
All other verbs belong to group 4.
There are also verbs belonging to group 4 where the retaikei conjugation
ends on "-iru" or "-eru", these verbs are indicated
in the vocabulary list with the ④
mark.
The group 4 verbs change conjugation by changing the last hiragana
in the okurigana (送り仮名) from the "u" column to the "i"
column
Group 4
conjugations |
 |
to write |
|
to buy |
|
there is/are |
|
to enter |
|
| Rentaikei |
|
書く
kaku |
|
買う
kau |
|
ある
aru |
|
入る
hairu |
|
| Ren'youkei |
|
書き
kaki |
|
買い
kai |
|
あり
ari |
|
入り
hairi |
| |
The group 2 verbs change conjugation by removing the hiragana る
(ru) from the okurigana (送りがな).
Group 2
conjugations |
|
there is/are |
|
to eat |
|
to appear |
|
to see |
|
| Rentaikei |
|
いる
iru |
|
食べる
taberu |
|
出る
deru |
|
見る
miru |
|
| Ren'youkei |
|
い
i |
|
食べ
tabe |
|
出
de |
|
見
mi |
| |
Irregular verbs
No language is complete without irregular verbs, but the good news
is: There are actually very few of them. Here are two.
Irregular
verbs |
|
to do |
|
to come |
|
| Rentaikei |
|
する
suru |
|
来る
kuru |
|
| Ren'youkei |
|
し
shi |
|
来
ki |
| |
*
The Japanese make a further distinction between these two as the
lower group 2, or shimo nidan katsuyou (下二段活用), ending on "-eru";
and the higher group 2, or kami nidan katsuyou (上二段活用), ending on
"-iru", but for all practical purposes there is no difference
between the two. |
