Verb Group
Let’s learn what verb groups Japanese has and how you can find what Japanese verb belongs to which verb group.
There are three verb groups in Japanese.
- Ichidan Verb Group
- Godan Verb Group
- Irregular Verb Group
You should know which verb belongs to which group correctly in order to make different forms such as Stem Form, てForm etc, that you need to make a correct sentence with various sentence patterns.
You can find a correct verb group by following the 3 steps below:
How to find a correct verb group
1st step: Irregular Verb Group
Find out if a verb belongs to Irregular Verb Group.
The following verbs belong to Irregular Verb Group.
Irregular Verbs
- する (to do, play sports)
- くる (to come)
- もってくる (to bring something)
- つれてくる (to bring somebody)
- noun + する（Ex: べんきょうする、そうじする、うんてんする）
Move to the 2nd step if the verb does not belong to Irregular Verb.
2nd Step: Ichidan Verb Group
A verb belongs to Ichidan Verb Group,
if it ends with i sound + る or e sound + る.
- たべる (be ru) : eat
- あける (ke ru) : open
- しめる (me ru) : close
- しんじる (ji ru) : believe
- みる (mi ru) : look, watch, see
- おきる (ki ru) : wake up
- おりる (ri ru) : get off
Move to the 3rd step if the verb does not belong to Group 2.
3rd step: Godan Verb Group
All other verbs belong to Godan Verb Group.
- よむ
- およぐ
- あそぶ
- まつ
- のる
Exercise
Task: Find out what verb group the following verbs belong to.
およぐ
Godan Verb
のる
Godan Verb
ねる
Ichidan Verb
する
Irregular Verb
はなす
Godan Verb
たべる
Ichidan Verb
もらう
Godan Verb
おきる
Ichidan Verb
つくる
Godan Verb
まつ
Godan Verb
くる
Irregular Verb