Questions tagged [verbs]
動詞. A class of words which describe events or states and can be inflected to indicate tense, aspect, voice, and so forth. In citation form, all Modern Japanese verbs end in -(r)u.
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Are there verbs that are neither intransitive nor transitive?
i was taught that verbs are either transitive or intransitive.
but what kind of verb is 分かる ?
WWWJDIC lists it as intransitive.
Yet the replies/comments from this thread Why is it 日本語がわかります instead ...
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Verb + うる form. What is this?
Can't really understand this form:
I've seen already this form with 考える and translated it like this:
考えうることだ - conceivable (possible)
However how do you translate with other verbs? is this some ...
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Verb classifications by japanese learners
As a studies of Japanese I've come across two distinct ways to group verbs for purposes of remembering how to conjugate them.
う動詞 / る動詞
Group1 / Group 2
Pacerier mentioned a verb1 and verb5, can ...
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The meaning of ～がいい
I've read a lot of mangas and I've noticed the use of がいい after a verb
e.g.
見る{みる}がいい。
諦めた{あきらめた}ほうがいい。
Does it work as an adverb?
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Are there verbs that end with ず,づ, ふ, ぷ, しゅう, ちゅう and じゅう? Why not?
I noticed that verb ending syllables cover all of -u syllables (る,く,ぐ,す,つ etc) except ず,づ, ふ, ぷ, しゅう, ちゅう and じゅう.
I suspect that ず is reserved for the negative conjugation thus no plain form verb ...
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Auxiliary verbs in Japanese
What are auxiliary verbs in Japanese language?
Which verbs are auxiliary and how to tell which are auxiliaries, and which are normal?
It looks like the word です is an auxiliary verb. But why? What ...
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Why is answer A (遊べるために) wrong in this question?
この公園には[a. 子供が遊べる/b. 子供が遊ぶ]ために、ブランコが設置してある。
I thought of "A swing is installed in order for children to be able to play in this park", but apparently that's wrong but I can't figure out why.
I see ...
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What does ～たまえ mean exactly and how do you use it?
I've seen the verb 給え【たまえ】, usually written in hiragana and after the stem of another verb, ending a phrase. I'm not too sure about its meaning.
I've read that it means "...please" but is ...
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Is 感じる {かんじる} transitive or intransitive? Which particle to use?
Please consider 一段 {いちだん} verb 感じる {かんじる}. Sometimes I see particle に applied and sometimes particole を. In the Jisho.org vocabulary it is not specified if this verb is 他動詞 {たどうし} (transitive) or 自動詞 {...
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Existence verbs in the Kansai Dialect
In this part of this Wikipedia article, it states
In other areas such as Hyogo and Mie, いる /iru/ is hardly used and おる /oru/ does not have the negative usage.
What I want to know is, does this ...
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What is the difference between 思【おも】い付【つ】く and 思【おも】い浮【う】かぶ?
The words 思い付く and 思い浮かぶ both mean something along the lines of "to come to mind". But I'm not actually sure about the details of when to use one versus the other. Yet, at the same time, they don't ...
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Is た形 required when using 自動詞 as an adjective?
From the grammar book I learned that when 自動詞 is being used as an adjective, it should change its form to the た形, for example:
優れ{すぐれ}た学生
拗れ{こじれ}た話し
But can I say 優れる学生 or 拗れる話し? Why?
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Using 嫌い and 嫌う
In elementary Japanese, you are taught to say you dislike something with が嫌いです. For example:
国の状態が嫌いです。
I've also seen 嫌う used to express dislike, like:
昨日を嫌った。
Are they both interchangeable? ...
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Is 「たくなった」 a typo or a grammatical structure that is different than I think it is?
I have this sentence in my JLPT exercise book:
彼{かれ}は有名人{ゆうめいじん}ゆえの不自由{ふじゆう}さから逃{に}げたくなった。
The translation offered is:
He wanted to get away from the difficulties of being a celebrity.
What is ...
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What does verb + くなる imply or mean?
I was talking to a person and they used:
大切にしたくなるよ。
Does that mean I have come to cherish or something like that?
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〜くて form of a verb
I ask here my question because I couldn't find anything on internet.
My problem is about 〜くて form for a verb.
I asked a Japanese friend what for example "会いたくて" means.
She told me that there is a ...
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How to say "to do one's hair"?
As in "I wake up, do my hair, have breakfast".
Is there a verb for this?
I'm guessing you can't just use 髪をする.
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What conjugation of 願う is 願わくば, and what does it mean here?
This is my first post here, I'm sorry if I didn't follow any formatting or posting rules.
Original sentence, from a character's monologue:
願わくばこの時間が少しでも長く続くことを。。。
The English translation I have (...
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What is Vて+た construction?
I came across Vて+た construction in a song I've been listening to:
あなたのその瞳をただ見つめてた
Can someone explain what it means? I've tried looking for it in some grammar books but unfortunately I couldn't ...
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始まる->始まり Is there a rule of making nouns from verbs (besides nominalization)?
Lately my ears started catching words ending in り that seem like nouns created from verbs. I'm sorry I don't have any other examples besides the one from the title 始まる (to start) -> 始まり (the start).
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Does the verb 死ぬ has a 死ぬる form?
I have come across a conjugation of 死ぬ verb which I've never heard before. It is 死ぬる, I have heard it in a TV show, you can see the relevant part in this video.
Is this a depreciated form? If so, ...
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What does this mean? シャッター速度はB,１－１/１０００秒が切れます。
I was looking for some second-hand film camera on the internet. And there was a guy selling one with this condition:
シャッター速度はB,１－１/１０００秒が切れます。
What does "切れます" means in this case? It means the shutter ...
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〜たい form vs. 〜てほしい
When first learning Japanese grammar, one is usually taught that to express a desire to do something one should use the 〜たい form of the verb:
東京へ行きたい
On some occasions, however, I've also seen ...
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Causative-Passive Verbs: Vせられる and Vされる
Looking at the answer to this question, it seems that both 行かせられる and 行かされる are valid forms of the causative-passive of 行く. I've only been taught the first usage, so I have a number of related ...
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Can a verb be modified too many times?
Several years ago, I was taking a Japanese course and was given an assignment to translate an English sentence of my choosing. (There was probably more to the assignment than that, but I don't recall....
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Can する substitute a previously used verb?
I want to eat, but if I do, I'll get fat.
My attempt at a translation:食べたいけどそれをすると太る.
I expect this is totally unnatural. Even if it is okay I fear that adding それを may make it sound quite formal, but ...
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Is it true that all verbs have a corresponding noun form?
Is it true that all verbs have a corresponding noun form (which is formed by making the -masu form and removing the -masu)?
Like 遊び and 遊びます
飲み and 飲みます
生き and 生きます
死に and 死にます
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How should I use 始める (はじめる) and 始まる (はじまる) as a suffix to intransitive verbs?
When describing intransitive actions that are commencing, I often end up saying dumb things like 沸き始まる (わきはじまる) instead of 沸き始める (わきはじめる) - starting to boil. Perhaps it's some meta pattern I am ...
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Difference between です and をする in the following passage
I just came across this sentence while studying verb する
山田さんは英語の先生をしている - (As per the book it translated to " Yamada-san is an English Teacher)
My question is why did not we use です instead of する and ...
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Which verbs have 辞書形 (dictionary forms) that look like ~ます conjugations?
I recently confused 励{はげ}ます for the ~ます form of 禿{は}げる.
Although this actually lead to a rather amusing conversation, I'm wondering if there are other examples of this to watch out for?
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Why does くださる have an irregular infinitive form (ください)?
I may be using the wrong term, but I understand the infinitive form of a verb in Japanese to be the form we add ～ます to. In the case of ichidan verbs, we take away the ～る and add ～ます、and for godan ...
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Can the volitional form be used when the speaker is not intending to do the action themselves?
From what I understand the volitional form is often used to mean "let's do" something, e.g. 行こう can mean "let's go". Can this form be use when the speaker themself is not going to perform the action? ...
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Where does the -a stem come from with auxiliary-constructed transitive/intransitive verb pairs if the base verb is a 二段活用 (or カ行変格活用)?
It seems to be generally understood that transitive/intransitive verb pairs, when they are not a 四段活用 and a 二段活用 that share the same 終止形, were created by taking a base verb, whether transitive or ...
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Are there inflections/endings that can be applied to verbs but not i-adjectives? (or vice versa)
After reading in an answer to another question that Japanese adjectives are less inflected than Japanese verbs I'm wondering if there are inflections that can be applied to verbs but not i-adjectives? ...
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If 日本語する is not ok, why is 日本語できる ok?
This is my understanding:
する名詞：
運転する。
残業する。
勉強する。
their potential forms:
運転することができる。
残業することができる。
勉強することができる。
abbreviated potential forms:
運転できる。
残業できる。
勉強できる。
Can ...
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How do I express "this made me laugh"?
This is the kind of simple question I'm often too embarrassed to ask, because I should probably know this by now. But here goes...
I was ordering something at a cafe, and I noticed some slightly ...
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What's the difference between ～てある and ～た (past form)?
As I understand it てある is rather different to ている in that it refers to a resultant state rather than an ongoing action.
However I wonder, what then is the practical difference between a resultant ...
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Why do road signs have 止まれ, not 止まる, 止める or 止めて?
From what I know ending verb in え makes it sound rough and very casual. I checked in tangorin.com online dictionary - it's said there it is actually a noun. To me, though, it looks like a rough ...
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Etymology of transitive/intransitive verb pairs
Many verbs come in pairs, frequently but not always transitive/intransitive pairs. These verbs generally have multiple okurigana characters, but according to my dictionary one of the pair was formerly ...
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Stem classification 終止形 vs 連体形（しゅうしけい vs れんたいけい）
What is the difference between 終止形 and 連体形 and which one is the correct term for the dictionary form?
The Japanese Grammar Wiki entry says...
Terminal form (終止形 shūshikei) -u
is used at the ends ...
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Why are dogs asked to 「おすわり」 instead of 「すわれ」
In the manga Inuyasha, the heroine Kagome acquires the ability to force the titular Dog-Yokai to fall over by saying 「おすわり」.
I figured this must be a typical dog training command, but I wondered why ...
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Which forms of a verb do I need to memorize to distinguish ichidan from godan?
Can I get away with memorizing only these two forms of a verb?
Dictionary form かえる ("to return")
Positive polite non-past form, like かえります
If I compare these two forms, I can determine whether it's ...
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Is 寝る a stative or active verb?
Looking at past questions I am still confused about the answers given:
The answer to this post suggests that 寝る is a continuation of some state.
昨日も全然寝てない。
Yesterday I didn't sleep at all.
Instead ...
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How to understand みんなしてお出かけですか?
I have seen some cases where して is placed before a する verb:
1) みんなしてお出かけですか？
2) みんなして大好評だな
Is this regular practice? Is this grammatically correct? Can this be done with other conjugations of ...
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Is there a generic word for a band/orchestra to "play" a song?
Since different instruments use different verbs for "play" (弾く、叩く、吹く、even 歌う), is there one nice word to wrap them up? [奏]{かな}でる and its variants (演奏、合奏) sound too formal to me. プレイする？
The scenario ...
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Asking a question with "da" and "datta"
We use "desu" and "deshita" to make the polite form and "ka" to make it a question, for example:
Tokyo ga suki desu ka? (Do you like Tokyo?)
Tokyo ga suki deshita ka? (Did you like Tokyo?)
How can I ...
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How to understand 叶う here?
The following is copied verbatim from a JLPT prep book:
将棋歴30年のベテランに、初心者の私が叶うべくもない
I read it as,
A beginner as myself should be no match for a shougi veteran with 30 years of expertise.
But I ...
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Passive verb forms for intransitive verbs: 「行かれるんですか？」
Okay, so I'm confused about passive verbs. From how I understand it, the verb is performed on the subject. But how come you can say something like:
明日の会議に行かれるんですか？
Are you going to tomorrow's meeting?...
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