う-Verb (Dictionary)う + ます (Godan Verbs)

Short form is also often called 'casual form' (because it is used in casual language), or 'plain form'

Structure

Examples:
座(すわ)る
歌(うた)う
歩(ある)く
話(はな)す
打(う)つ
死(し)ぬ
飛(と)ぶ
休(やす)む
泳(およ)ぐ

Details

Part of Speech
Verb
Word Type
Independent Word
Register
Standard

About う-Verb (Dictionary)

う-Verbs include all of the verbs in Japanese that end in う sounds (including some of the verbs that end in る). These verbs are called Godan (五段(ごだん)) 'five-level' verbs in Japanese, due to their conjugations using all 5 of the different sounds in the same column (段(だん)) that their base form comes from.

As we can see here, the く in 聞(き)く changes to き when conjugated to the polite form. All of the other sounds the K-column will be used with 聞(き)く, depending on the conjugation. This is the same for all of the う-Verbs.

聞(き)かない, 聞(き)きたい, 聞(き)く, 聞(き)ける, 聞(き)こう

Here we can see the う-Verb 聞(き)く using all of the different K-column sounds in various conjugations.

Caution

Just like with る-Verbs, the base form of the verb may be called 'plain form', 'casual form', or 'short form', depending on the source/book.

Synonyms

Examples

--:--

聞(き)く → 聞(き)きます

To listen/hear

座(すわ)る → 座(すわ)ります

To sit down

飲(の)む→ 飲(の)みます

To drink

打(う)つ → 打(う)ちます

To hit

会(あ)う → 会(あ)います

To meet

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Online
- Verb basics
  Tae Kim
- Japanese verb conjugation
  Kanji Link
- Verbs basics & を particle
  Japanese Ammo
- ます Form
  Japanese Ammo
- Negation of masu verbs ません
  Japanese Ammo
- Aeron Buchanan's Japanese Verb Chart
  Wikipedia Commons
- Regular Verbs II: 五段 Godan Verbs
  Imabi 2

Offline
- Genki I
  Page 58
- みんなの日本語 I
  Page 116 [CH 18]
- Genki I 2nd Edition
  Page 88
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 43~47
- Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
  Page 87
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う-Verb (Dictionary) – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (14 in total)

FredKore
I was curious so I tried it. Google is not great for checking proper grammar – it takes whatever you give it and tries to interpret what you meant to say. But notice, in the ローマ字, it still recognizes that ‘mochinai’ is not a word and separates it into two…
bhenryjp1
I totally overlooked and misread the た in the casual form. Thanks!
delliepops
The ____ is labeled “polite”. But I’m supposed to fill in the casual form? This doesn’t make sense to me. Shouldn’t the ____ be labeled “casual”?

Here’s what the question looks like:

(Polite) → 飲みます

Why is the correct answer nomu (casual form) when the label is clearly asking me to fill in the polite form, which is what’s already on the right side?