How do you memorize the various forms of verbs? I’ve been struggling…

9 comments

1. Took me a minute to understand how to read this… it’s kind of confusingly laid out which might not be helping you. If you already know your kana well (which you should focus on before this, if it feels shaky) it’s not like you should need to memorize the different consonant rows separately for the purpose of verb conjugation – with some small exceptions (like how they change for the て form)

   Ultimately, it comes down to understanding the patterns and then lots of practice.

2. I spent way to much time trying to figure this out 😅 it’s better to just remember what ending hiragana of a verb will turn into, and then you don’t have to remember them individually? If I know う is going to turn into わない for the negative form, I don’t have to remember this effects 会う、合う、行う、買う、払う etc. I just need to know to make う into わない

3. Honestly this table is a mess. I learned my verbs from Genki and it was a lot easier to understand. Definitely recommend you this book because it’s very well-structured.

4. My advice would be to not memorise it.

   Give it a glance and move on.

   When you get stuck in the future, refer back to this. When you refer enough times for the same thing, it will eventually get stuck. Keep doing it enough times, it will become intuitive.

   Anyway I quite like this list. Its a good table for quick reference when you are somewhat familiar with the whole conjugation thing.

5. I don’t know your language background, but a lot of people approach Japanese thinking they have to memorize all this grammar bc a lot of western languages have conjugations and declensions that just need to be memorized.

   Japanese isn’t like that. Sure, tons of shit needs to be memorized, but if you compare the number of conjugational forms for Spanish vs. Japanese, Japanese has barely anything. However, Spanish conjugations are functionally straightforward from an Indo-European perspective (use the present tense in the present tense, preterite for completed actions and abc, etc.), while Japanese grammatical forms can be used much more broadly, making them more confusing. You need a lot of input and a lot of practice *trying* to use them to understand the extent of their utility and application.

   While Japanese seems tricky bc people say “you can technically say abcde and f” and you might think, “oh shit I have to memorize a whole ass table,” what you should actually realize is that just “a” is gonna get your meaning across just fine for now, and you survive on that and get comfortable for a couple days, before moving on to “b” to mix things up and make things a bit more interesting and complex. This helps you slowly explore the actual nuances of that particular option without you getting overwhelmed.

   Grammatical choices are made based on context, but you don’t understand the context that Japanese people pay attention to yet, so even if you try to memorize, you won’t understand the application.

   For example, you might first come across the “to address my family” vs “to refer to my family” vs “to refer to other people’s family” set of kinship terms, and be utterly befuddled at why you wouldn’t just use pronouns. And then when you visit your Japanese friend’s family, you want be polite because there’s no way you speak to them like you talk to your own brother or sister, and oh Lord they’re giving you cookies and tea and dinner and you *have* to show your appreciation as sincerely as possible. Of course you can relax around your family, they’re your in-group… which makes other people’s families out-group. But then how do you know if your older coworker is outgroup or ingroup? Is your supervisor important enough to say 差し出します to? What about the old woman who gave you some candy when you gave her your seat?

   You need input and time to go through this cycle of unknown context -> explained usage -> encounter context -> understand utility -> internalize usage -> correct application. It takes forever. So don’t sweat memorizing all the forms in a few short months or even in a year or two. Get comfortable sounding awkward and a little silly, and commit to reading and speaking 30m a day. When you get bored is how you know it’s time to step it up. Just make sure it’s *one* step at a time

6. This pdf is my favourite verb table because it’s complete and easy to understand. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ogcafv1c77uyl64/Japanese_verb_conjugation.pdf?dl=0

   The one you shared is a bit confusing at first glance, especially if you don’t know the conjugations yet.

   If you use them often enough, you’ll just know if sth sounds right or wrong. Especially する, because it’s used so often.

7. It’ll get easier with time, trust me

8. Same way you get to Carnegie Hall.

9. Yes