行く・
Japanese verbs have four basic plain forms: nonpast affirmative, nonpast negative, past affirmative, and past negative. They can end a sentence in plain style and also appear inside clauses in both plain and polite sentences.
The four basic meanings
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| Time | Affirmative | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| Nonpast | 飲む — drink, drinks, will drink | 飲まない — do not drink, will not drink |
| Past | 飲んだ — drank | 飲まなかった — did not drink |
The nonpast forms can describe habits or future actions. Context tells you which meaning is intended.
One verb in all four forms
Models by verb group
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| Verb type | Nonpast affirmative | Nonpast negative | Past affirmative | Past negative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | 書く | 書かない | 書いた | 書かなかった |
| Group 1 ending in the u sound | 買う | 買わない | 買った | 買わなかった |
| Group 2 | 食べる | 食べない | 食べた | 食べなかった |
| Irregular | する | しない | した | しなかった |
| Irregular | 来る | 来ない | 来た | 来なかった |
Group 1 past sound changes
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| Dictionary ending | Past ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| う・つ・る | った | 買う → 買った |
| む・ぶ・ぬ | んだ | 読む → 読んだ |
| く | いた | 書く → 書いた |
| ぐ | いだ | 泳ぐ → 泳いだ |
| す | した | 話す → 話した |
行く is an important exception: its past form is 行った, not 行いた.
A plain form inside a polite sentence
これは昨日買った本です。
This is the book I bought yesterday.
Analyze買った modifies “book,” while the sentence itself ends politely. The plain form inside the clause does not make the whole sentence casual.
Plain forms, polite forms, and the linking form
The matching polite endings are ます, ません, ました, and ませんでした. Choose plain or polite sentence endings according to the situation, but expect plain forms inside many clauses regardless of the sentence ending. The て-form shares many sound changes with the past form but is a separate form used to link with what follows.
More examples
週末は家で料理する。
I cook at home on weekends.
Analyze今日はテレビを見ない。
I will not watch television today.
Analyze先週、京都へ行った。
I went to Kyoto last week.
Analyze昨日は何も買わなかった。
I did not buy anything yesterday.
Analyze父は毎朝六時に起きる。
My father gets up at six every morning.
Analyzeこれは母が作ったケーキです。
This is a cake my mother made.
Analyze雨は降らなかった。
It did not rain.
Analyze来年、日本へ来る。
I will come to Japan next year.
Analyze