Godan Verbs (u-verbs) in Japanese

In Brief

Godan verbs (五段動詞), often called u-verbs, change their final kana when they conjugate. For the polite ます form, move the final kana from its u sound to the matching i sound and add ます: 書く → 書きます, 話す → 話します, 読む → 読みます. Verbs ending in る need extra care because some are godan verbs and others belong to a different class.

Overview

Godan verbs form one of the main Japanese verb classes. A verb is a word that expresses an action, event, or state, such as “write,” “go,” or “exist.” Many everyday Japanese verbs are godan verbs: 書く “write,” 話す “speak,” 読む “read,” 飲む “drink,” 買う “buy,” and 帰る “return.” Learning their pattern gives you a practical way to talk about daily activities from the beginning of A1.

Japanese verbs do not change according to the person doing the action. English has “I write” but “she writes”; Japanese can use 書きます for both, with the subject understood from context or marked elsewhere in the sentence. Instead, Japanese endings mainly show meanings such as politeness, negation, past time, ability, or intention.

The name 五段 literally refers to “five grades” or “five rows.” A godan verb can change its final syllable among the five Japanese vowel rows—a, i, u, e, and o. You only need the i-row change for the beginner ます form, but seeing the whole system now will make later forms less mysterious.

How It Works

Dictionary forms and their endings

The dictionary form is the basic form used as a headword in a dictionary. It is also an ordinary plain, non-past form: 読む can mean “read,” “reads,” or “will read,” depending on context. Every Japanese dictionary-form verb ends in an u sound, but that fact alone does not make every verb a godan verb.

Godan verbs use nine possible written endings:

Ending	Example	Reading	Meaning
う	買う	かう	buy
く	書く	かく	write
ぐ	泳ぐ	およぐ	swim
す	話す	はなす	speak
つ	待つ	まつ	wait
ぬ	死ぬ	しぬ	die
ぶ	遊ぶ	あそぶ	play
む	読む	よむ	read
る	帰る	かえる	return

The ぬ pattern is still part of the regular system, although 死ぬ is the only common verb with this ending in modern standard Japanese.

Making the polite ます form

The stem is the part to which an ending is attached. For a godan verb’s ます stem, replace the final u-row kana with its matching i-row kana, then add ます.

Dictionary ending	Change	Dictionary form	ます form
う	う → い	買う	買います
く	く → き	書く	書きます
ぐ	ぐ → ぎ	泳ぐ	泳ぎます
す	す → し	話す	話します
つ	つ → ち	待つ	待ちます
ぬ	ぬ → に	死ぬ	死にます
ぶ	ぶ → び	遊ぶ	遊びます
む	む → み	読む	読みます
る	る → り	帰る	帰ります

Do not remove the final kana as you would with many ichidan verbs. For example, 読む does not become 読ます; む changes to み, producing 読みます.

The ます form itself is polite and non-past. Japanese does not have a separate verb form corresponding exactly to the English simple present and “will” future. Context provides the time:

• 毎日本を読みます。 — “I read a book every day.”
• 明日本を読みます。 — “I will read the book tomorrow.”

A separate grammar topic develops the full polite set—ます, ません, ました, and ませんでした—but all four attach to the same godan i-row stem: 読みます, 読みません, 読みました, 読みませんでした.

The five-row pattern

A single model verb shows why this class is called godan:

Vowel row	Form from 書く	A common job
a-row	書か…	plain negative: 書かない
i-row	書き…	polite stem: 書きます
u-row	書く	dictionary/plain non-past
e-row	書け…	potential: 書ける; imperative: 書け
o-row	書こ…	volitional: 書こう

This is a map, not a list to memorize all at once. At A1, concentrate on the u-row dictionary form and i-row ます stem.

One detail matters later: when う moves to the a-row, it becomes わ, not あ. Therefore 買う becomes 買わない, not 買あない.

Recognizing godan verbs

Recognition is easy for most endings:

• A verb ending in う, く, ぐ, す, つ, ぬ, ぶ, or む is normally godan.
• The major irregular verbs する “do” and 来る（くる） “come” must be learned separately.
• A verb ending in る may be godan or ichidan.

Many verbs ending in -いる or -える are ichidan: 見る “see,” 起きる “wake up,” 食べる “eat,” and 教える “teach.” This is a useful clue, not a complete rule. Common godan exceptions include 入る（はいる） “enter,” 走る（はしる） “run,” 帰る（かえる） “return,” 切る（きる） “cut,” 知る（しる） “know,” 要る（いる） “need,” and 喋る（しゃべる） “chat/speak.” Their polite forms are 入ります, 走ります, 帰ります, 切ります, 知ります, 要ります, and 喋ります.

Spelling and sound do not always settle the issue. 着る（きる） “wear” is ichidan and becomes 着ます, while 切る（きる） “cut” is godan and becomes 切ります. Learn a new る-verb with one diagnostic form—ideally its ます or ない form—rather than relying only on its dictionary form.

Building a basic sentence

Japanese commonly places the verb at the end. The particle を marks the direct object (the person or thing directly affected by an action):

topic + object を + verb

私は日本語を話します。 literally presents “as for me,” then “Japanese” as what is spoken, and ends with “speak.” Japanese often leaves 私は unspoken when the context already makes the speaker clear: 日本語を話します.

Examples in Context

Japanese	English	Note
日本語を話します。	I speak Japanese.	話す → 話します
毎晩、本を読みます。	I read a book every evening.	読む → 読みます
毎日、駅まで歩きます。	I walk to the station every day.	歩く → 歩きます
電車で音楽を聞きます。	I listen to music on the train.	聞く → 聞きます
スーパーで野菜を買います。	I buy vegetables at the supermarket.	買う → 買います
週末に友達と遊びます。	I spend time with friends on weekends.	遊ぶ → 遊びます
夏に海で泳ぎます。	I swim in the sea in summer.	泳ぐ → 泳ぎます
ここで少し待ちます。	I’ll wait here for a little while.	待つ → 待ちます
毎朝、水を飲みます。	I drink water every morning.	飲む → 飲みます
六時に家へ帰ります。	I return home at six.	帰る is a godan -る verb.
ノートに名前を書きます。	I write my name in the notebook.	に marks where the writing goes.
日曜日は料理を作ります。	I cook on Sundays.	作る → 作ります
明日、京都に行きます。	I will go to Kyoto tomorrow.	Non-past form with future context

The English subject varies naturally—“I,” “you,” “we,” or “they” may all be possible—because the Japanese verb does not encode person. Context determines who acts.

Common Mistakes

Removing the ending instead of changing its vowel

• Wrong: 読ます。
• Right: 読みます。
• Why: With godan verbs, the last kana changes to the i-row: む → み. It is not simply deleted.

Treating every る-verb as an ichidan verb

• Wrong: 帰ます。
• Right: 帰ります。
• Why: 帰る is godan, despite ending in -える. Change る to り before ます.

Treating every -いる or -える verb as godan because all verbs end in u sounds

• Wrong: 食べります。
• Right: 食べます。
• Why: 食べる is ichidan. The “u-verb” label describes the godan conjugation class, not merely the last sound of every dictionary-form verb.

Changing う to あ in a negative form

• Wrong: 買あない。
• Right: 買わない。
• Why: The a-row partner used for final う is わ. This historical-looking spelling is part of the regular modern pattern.

Translating English person endings into Japanese

• Wrong idea: Japanese needs different verb forms for “I read” and “she reads.”
• Right: 私は読みます。／彼女は読みます。
• Why: A Japanese verb does not change for first, second, or third person. The noun, pronoun, or context identifies the person.

Assuming a non-past form can only describe the present

• Wrong interpretation: 明日行きます means “I go tomorrow” but cannot mean “I will go tomorrow.”
• Right interpretation: 明日行きます。 — “I will go tomorrow.”
• Why: Japanese non-past forms cover both habitual/present situations and future events.

Usage Notes

ます is a dependable choice with strangers, colleagues, teachers, and in service encounters. Plain forms such as 読む are common among family and friends and inside many grammatical patterns. Politeness is not built into the godan class itself: both 読む and 読みます come from the same verb, but they belong to different speech styles.

Japanese often omits a subject that is clear from context. 本を読みます is a complete and natural sentence even without 私は. English normally requires an explicit subject, so resist adding 私は to every Japanese sentence. State it when introducing or contrasting the topic; leave it out when everyone already knows who is meant.

Some i-row stems can function as nouns or appear in compounds. For example, 休む “rest” has the stem 休み, which can mean “a break” or “a day off.” However, not every stem can freely stand alone as a noun, so learn such words as established vocabulary rather than inventing them mechanically.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following forms at A1. They show how the same final-kana system supports grammar you will meet later.

Japanese form	English	Formation note
書かない	do not write	く → か + ない
書いた	wrote	past sound change
書いて	write and… / please write…	て-form sound change
書ける	can write	く → け + る
書けば	if (someone) writes	く → け + ば
書こう	let’s write / I’ll write	く → こ + う
書け	write!	direct imperative; strong

The て-form and plain past form use sound changes rather than a single vowel-row substitution:

Dictionary ending	て-form	Past form	Example
う, つ, る	って	った	買う → 買って／買った
む, ぶ, ぬ	んで	んだ	読む → 読んで／読んだ
く	いて	いた	書く → 書いて／書いた
ぐ	いで	いだ	泳ぐ → 泳いで／泳いだ
す	して	した	話す → 話して／話した

行く “go” is the famous exception: 行って and 行った, not 行いて and 行いた. The linked て-form topic develops these patterns and their many uses.

A few high-frequency verbs also have special behavior. ある “exist” is a godan verb in most of its forms, such as あります and あった, but its ordinary plain negative is ない rather than あらない. Honorific verbs such as いらっしゃる, おっしゃる, くださる, なさる, and ござる have unusual polite stems ending in い—for example, いらっしゃいます. These belong to later study and do not change the basic beginner rule for regular godan verbs.

The labels used in teaching materials differ. “Godan verb,” “u-verb,” “Group 1 verb,” and sometimes “consonant-stem verb” usually point to the same broad class. Godan most clearly describes the kana-row pattern; u-verb is convenient but can mislead beginners because ichidan and irregular dictionary forms also end in an u sound.

Practice Tips

1. Learn endings as paired sounds. Drill う→い, く→き, ぐ→ぎ, す→し, つ→ち, ぬ→に, ぶ→び, む→み, and る→り. Then convert five familiar verbs each day before adding ます.
2. Record uncertain る-verbs with two forms. Write 帰る・帰ります but 食べる・食べます. The pair reveals the class and prevents you from trusting the -いる/-える clue too much.
3. Build short, realistic sentences. Combine a time phrase, an object with を, and a verb: 毎朝コーヒーを飲みます. Say the same sentence with tomorrow or yesterday’s polite form to connect conjugation with meaning.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Particles は/が/を/に — shows how topics, subjects, objects, destinations, and times connect to the verb.
• Next step: Polite Form ます — expands the i-row stem into polite affirmative, negative, past, and past-negative forms.
• Later development: て-Form — introduces the sound changes used in 書いて, 読んで, 話して, and many connected constructions.