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By Mike and

Errol De Jesus Last updated: October 10, 2023

Japanese Verb List: 64 Must-know Verbs for Leveling Up Your Language Skills

Japanese and English might be drastically different, but they have one thing in common: every sentence needs at least one verb.

To become conversational in Japanese, this means you need to know at least the most common Japanese verbs.

In this post, you’ll get a Japanese verb list complete with 64 verbs, including some intermediate-level verbs that indicate change.

Also, learn how Japanese verb conjugation works so you can start using them in the real world as fast as possible.

How Japanese Verb Conjugation Works
Godan Verbs (~う Verbs)
Ichidan Verbs (~いる and ~える Verbs)
Irregular Verbs
Why You Should Know These Verbs
And One More Thing...

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How Japanese Verb Conjugation Works

Verb conjugations don’t depend on the pronoun. Instead, Japanese verb forms are conjugated based on polite form or plain form. This is different from Romance languages like Spanish and French.
There are three main types of Japanese verbs. These are verbs that end with う (“godan” verbs), verbs that end in いる or える (“ichidan” verbs), and two irregular verbs: 来る（くる）— to come and 行く（いく）— to go.
一段 verbs. You can negate 一段 verbs by adding ~ない to the verb stem. For example, the verb 食べる（たべる）— “to eat” becomes:

食べた（たべた）— I ate (plain past form)

食べました（たべました）— I ate (polite past form)

Add ~た to the stem to change the verb to the past tense. For the polite form, ~ない becomes ~ません and た becomes 〜ました.
The same would work with the past negative. ない becomes なかった in plain form, ません becomes ませんでした in polite form. For example:

食べなかった（たべなかった）— I did not eat (past negative plain form)

食べませんでした（たべませんでした）— I did not eat (past negative polite form)

五段 verbs can end in う、く、ぐ、す、ぶ、つ、ぬ、む、or る. If you’re not familiar with hiragana, now would be a good time to brush up on it! The pattern will give you a better idea of how to conjugate.

It does take some time to remember how to properly use the negative, past and stem form of 五段 verbs that don’t end in いる or える.

But to start, you can use this song my Japanese language teacher had us memorize to help us remember verb conjugation!

If you like learning Japanese through songs, FluentU would be an excellent resource to try.

FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.

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Godan Verbs (~う Verbs)

English	Romaji	Kanji	Hiragana
To talk	Hanasu	話す	はなす
To write	Kaku	書く	かく
To listen	Kiku	聞く	きく
To ask	Kiku	聞く	きく
To buy	Kau	買う	かう
To say	Yuu	言う	いう
To sing	Utau	歌う	うたう
To read	Yomu	読む	よむ
To meet	Au	会う	あう
To reach	Todoku	届く	とどく
To understand	Wakaru	分かる	わかる
To make something	Tsukuru	作る	つくる
To begin	Hajimaru	始まる	はじまる
To say	Maosu	申す	もうす
To exist	Aru	ある	ある
To separate	Hanasu	離す	はなす
To take (someone along)	Tsureteiku	連れて行く	つれていく
To take	Toru	取る	とる
To cut	Kiru	切る	きる
To wear (lower body clothing)	Haku	履く	はく
To give	Kudasuru	下さる	くださる
To receive	Itadaku	頂く	いただく
To get	Morau	もらう	もらう
To walk	Aruku	歩く	あるく
To run	Hashiru	走る	はしる
To spread	Hirogaru	広がる	ひろがる
To expand	Hiromaru	広まる	ひろまる
To get taller	Takamuru	高まる	たかまる
To get deeper	Fukamaru	深まる	ふかまる
To quiet down	Shizumaru	静まる	しずまる
To curl up	Marumaru	丸まる	まるまる
To harden	Katamaru	固まる	かたまる
To dilute	Usumaru	薄まる	うすまる
To weaken	Yowamaru	弱まる	よわまる
To get strong	Tsuyomaru	強まる	つよまる
To get faster	Hayamaru	早まる	はやまる
To speed up	Hayamaru	速まる	はやまる
To warm up	Atatamaru	暖まる	あたたまる
To get warm	Atatamaru	温まる	あたたまる

Ichidan Verbs (~いる and ~える Verbs)

English	Romaji	Kanji	Hiragana
To put on (clothes)	Kiru	着る	きる
To see	Miru	見る	みる
To sleep	Neru	寝る	ねる
To tell	Oshieru	教える	おしえる
To think	Kangaeru	考える	かんがえる
To eat	Taberu	食べる	たべる
To put	Kakeru	かける	かける
To give	Kureru	くれる	くれる
To give	Ageru	あげる	あげる
To widen	Hirogeru	広げる	ひろげる
To expand	Hiromeru	広める	ひろめる
To raise	Takameru	高める	たかめる
To deepen	Fukameru	深める	ふかめる
To get quieter	Shizumeru	静める	しずめる
To roll up	Marumeru	丸める	まるめる
To harden	Katameru	固める	かためる
To dilute	Usumeru	薄める	うすめる
To get weaker	Yowameru	弱める	よわめる
To strengthen	Tsuyomeru	強める	つよめる
To quicken	Hayameru	早める	はやめる
To speed up	Hayameru	速める	はやめる
To warm up (a person)	Atatameru	暖める	あたためる
To warm	Atatameru	温める	あたためる

Irregular Verbs

くる (to come) and する (to do) are the only two regular verbs.

English	Romaji	Kanji	Hiragana
To come	Kuru	来る	くる
To do	Suru	する	する

Why You Should Know These Verbs

Learning the most essential Japanese verbs is important for many reasons, mainly so you can have more fluent and enjoyable conversations where you can express yourself more easily.

But familiarizing yourself with these verbs can also prove useful in many other ways!

For example, the kanji for all these verbs are included in the 常用漢字表（じょうようかんじひょう）— list of most commonly used kanji.

Knowing how to use these verbs will have you reading at a basic JLPT 4 level!

Plus, let’s not forget that knowing frequently used verbs means you’ll be able to understand more of your favorite Japanese songs, dramas, TV shows and animes.

With these 64 verbs, you’ll be well on your way to forming more native-sounding Japanese sentences.

Verb conjugation might seem difficult at first, but with plenty of practice and a little bit of time, you’ll be conjugating Japanese verbs with significantly more ease.

And One More Thing...

If you love learning Japanese with authentic materials, then I should also tell you more about FluentU.

FluentU naturally and gradually eases you into learning Japanese language and culture. You'll learn real Japanese as it's spoken in real life.

FluentU has a broad range of contemporary videos as you'll see below:

FluentU makes these native Japanese videos approachable through interactive transcripts. Tap on any word to look it up instantly.

All definitions have multiple examples, and they're written for Japanese learners like you. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.

And FluentU has a learn mode which turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples.

The best part? FluentU keeps track of your vocabulary, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You'll have a 100% personalized experience.

Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)