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Japanese conjugation, like the conjugation of verbs of many other languages, allows verbs to be morphologically modified to change their meaning or grammatical function. In Japanese, the beginning of a word (the stem) is preserved during conjugation, while the ending of the word is altered in some way to change the meaning (this is the inflectional suffix). Japanese verb conjugations are independent of person, number and gender (they do not depend on whether the subject is I, you, he, she, we, etc.); the conjugated forms can express meanings such as negation, present and past tense, volition, passive voice, causation, imperative and conditional mood, and ability. There are also special forms for conjunction with other verbs, and for combination with particles for additional meanings.
Japanese verbs have agglutinating properties: some of the conjugated forms are themselves conjugable verbs (or i-adjectives), which can result in several suffixes being strung together in a single verb form to express a combination of meanings.
For Japanese verbs, the verb stem remains invariant among all conjugations. However, conjugation patterns vary according to a verb's category. For example, and belong to different verb categories (godan and ichidan, respectively) and therefore follow different conjugation patterns. As such, knowing a verb's category is essential for conjugating Japanese verbs.
Japanese verbs can be allocated into three categories:
Verbs are conjugated from their "dictionary form", where the final kana is either removed or changed in some way. From a technical standpoint, verbs usually require a specific conjugational stem (see ç Verb bases, below) for any given inflection or suffix. With godan verbs, the conjugational stem can span all five columns of the gojà «on kana table (hence, the classification as a pentagrade verb). Ichidan verbs are simpler to conjugate: the final kana, which is always , is simply removed or replaced with the appropriate inflectional suffix. This means ichidan verb stems, in themselves, are valid conjugational stems which always end with the same kana (hence, the classification as a monograde verb).
This distinction can be observed by comparing conjugations of the two verb types, within the context of the gojà «on table.
As can be seen above, the godan verb has a static verb stem, , and a dynamic conjugational stem which changes depending on the purpose: , , , and . Unlike godan verb stems, ichidan verb stems are also functional conjugational stems, with the final kana of the stem remaining static in all conjugations.
Conjugable words (verbs, iâÂÂadjectives, and naâÂÂadjectives) are traditionally considered to have six possible . However, as a result of the language evolving, historical sound shifts, and the postâÂÂWWII spelling reforms, three additional subâÂÂbases have emerged for verbs (seen in the table below as the Potential, Tentative, and Euphonic bases). Meanwhile, verbs no longer differentiate between the and the bases (these bases are only distinguished for naâÂÂadjectives in the modern language, see Japanese adjectives). Verb bases function as the necessary stem forms to which inflectional suffixes attach.
The "default" dictionary form, or lemma, of any conjugational morpheme, be it a verb, an adjective or an auxiliary, is its conclusive form, which is listed first in the table below. The verb group (godan, ichidan, or irregular) determines how to derive any given conjugation base for the verb. With godan verbs, the base is derived by shifting the final kana along the respective vowel row of the gojà «on kana table. With ichidan verbs, the base is derived by removing or replacing the final kana.
The table below illustrates the various verb bases across the verb groups, with the patterns starting from the dictionary form. The mizenkei base for verbs ending in appears to be an exceptional case with the unexpected . This realization of is a leftover from past sound changes, an artifact preserved from the archaic Japanese from verbs (which would have yielded, regularly, from from ). This is noted with historical kana orthography in dictionaries; for example, from from and from (from ). In modern Japanese, original instances of midâÂÂword consonant [w] have since been dropped before all vowels except [a]. (For more on this shift in consonants, see , , and ).
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Of the nine verb bases, the shà «shikei/rentaikei, meireikei, and ren'yà Âkei bases can be considered fully conjugated forms without needing to append inflectional suffixes. In particular, the shà «shikei/rentaikei and meireikei bases do not conjugate with any inflectional suffixes. By contrast, a verb cannot be considered fully conjugated in its kateikei, mizenkei, ishikei, kanà Âkei, or onbinkei base alone; a compatible inflectional suffix is required for that verb construction to be grammatical.
Certain inflectional suffixes, in themselves, take on the form of verbs or iâÂÂadjectives. These suffixes can then be further conjugated by adopting one of the verb bases, followed by the attachment of the appropriate suffix. The agglutinative nature of Japanese verb conjugation can thus make the final form of a given verb conjugation quite long. For example, the word is broken down into its component morphemes below:
There are three modern verb base forms that are considered to be derived from older forms. These are the potential, hortative, and euphonic subâÂÂbases, as shown in the Verb base formation table above.
As with all languages, the Japanese language has evolved to fulfil the contemporary needs of communication. The potential form of verbs is one such example. In Old Japanese and Early Middle Japanese, potential was expressed with the verb ending , which was also used to express the passive voice ("to be done") and the spontaneous voice ("something happens on its own"). This evolved into the modern passive ending , which can similarly express potential and spontaneous senses. As usage patterns changed over time, different kinds of potential constructions emerged, such as the grammatical pattern of the rentaikei base + , and also via the kanà Âkei base. The historical development of the kanà Âkei base is disputed, however the consensus is that it stemmed from a shift wherein transitive verbs developed an intransitive sense similar to the spontaneous, passive, and potential, and these intransitive forms conjugated in the of the Classical Japanese of the time. The lower bigrade conjugation pattern evolved into the modern ichidan pattern in modern Japanese, and these stems for godan verbs have the same form as the hypothetical stems in the table above.
The mizenkei base that ends with was also used to express the hortative mood for in Old Japanese and Middle Japanese, in combination with hortative suffix . Sound changes caused the resulting âÂÂamu ending to change: â â (like English "ow") â (like English "aw") â . The postâÂÂWWII spelling reforms updated spellings to reflect this and other sound changes, resulting in the addition of the ishikei or hortative base, ending with , for the hortative mood of yodan verbs. This also resulted in a reclassification of "yodan verbs" to .
The ren'yà Âkei base also underwent various euphonic changes specific to the perfective and infinitive (te) forms for certain verb stems, giving rise to the onbinkei or euphonic base. In the onbinkei base, the inflectional suffixes for godan verbs vary according to the last kana of the verb's ren'yà Âkei base.
Unlike most verbs, suru and its derived compounds exhibit strong irregularity in their verb bases. In some cases, some variants are preferred over the others, and such preferences vary among speakers. Roughly speaking, there are three major groups that behave similarly:
Across the following forms of suru within standard Japanese, an eastern dialect, while there is a dominance of the eastern vowel i as in shinai, shiyà  and shiro, the once prestigious western vowel e, as in sen(u) and seyo, still has currency especially in formal or literary Japanese. Such variants as senai and sanai (both of shinai); shin(u) (of sen(u)); shà  (â seu), seyà  and sà  (all of shiyà Â); sero (of shiro); and shiyo, sàand sei (all of seyo), remain dialectal or obsolete.
The nucleus of a sentence, or a nuclear sentence, requires nothing more than a verb, adjective, or noun-copula phrase, to stand on its own as a complete, grammatical utterance:
Notice how there are no mentions of explicit subjects or objects, whether they be nouns or pronouns, in the above examples, unlike in the possible English translations. The nucleus is the only essential part of discourse, with other information, such the subject and the object, being supplementally built on top of it:
Certain Japanese particles allow what calls "nucleus splitting." When a nucleus is split, a focus particle is inserted between its infinitive and its auxiliary, the latter of which normally either fuses with the former into a single contraction, or does not surface at all:
Of focus particles, wa ("as for," "speaking of") subdues what comes before it to the background, while throwing focus onto what comes after; and mo ("even," "too") highlights and raises what comes before it to the foreground. In the following examples, the focused information is underlined in the Japanese original, and put in all caps in the English translations to emulate spoken stress:
Wa ("as for," "speaking of"), commonly used to focus on negation, is often taught to foreigners as part of the nucleus, particularly in the negative copula: . The copular de wa sequence is used so frequently to focus on negation that it contracts to ja(a) in speech, and its focusing effect becomes ambiguous (see for more). De wa/ja(a) can also be used on their own as a sentence adverbial meaning "in that case" or "well then," which focuses on the following information in relation to the preceding. Wa is also used with the gerund to form a conditional clause: ; . Like the aforementioned copular de wa, the gerundive âÂÂte/âÂÂde wa also contract to âÂÂcha/âÂÂja.
Mo ("even," "too") is often used to form concessive clauses: ; . De mo, as a sentence adverbial means "but" or "however" ("despite what's just been mentioned"). The gerundive âÂÂte/âÂÂde mo are standard concessive constructions in modern Japanese: ; .
The copulae are the basis of the nominal nucleus. It follows a noun, and means "[subject] is <noun>," similarly to the copula be in English. Certain nouns with descriptive meanings, called "adjectival nouns," can also precede a copula.
Of the various forms of the copulae, nara(ba) functions as a type of evidential conditional. Darà  can be added to verbs and adjectives to form the modern tentative. Desu can be used as a meaningless politeness flourish with word forms that do not readily combine with the politeness auxiliary âÂÂmasu, such as an adjective or a negative auxiliary. The past deshita and the tentative deshà  are both meaningful and polite extenders to word forms that lack any mechanism to convey pastness and tentativity, namely the western negative âÂÂn(u).
The copulae of Japanese demonstrate suppletion, in that they combined different forms from different words into one word. The original copulae were all based on the verb , which evolved into the modern . It needed to be preceded by one of the three particles, ni, nite â de and to, which yielded three variants, ni ari/ni aru â nari/naru, de ari/de aru â da and to ari/to aru â tari/taru, the last of which fell out of use, but did phonetically coincide with te ari/te aru â tari/taru, which in turn evolved into the modern past auxiliary ta. It also combined with adjectival roots to expand their conjugation, for example , , etc.
Derived from aru and arimasu, the copulae can have all the forms that these verbs are capable of having. Certain affirmative conclusive and attributive forms have contracted, especially in speech, such as de aru â da/ja and de arimasu â desu; the negative forms remain uncontracted, meaning there is no such form as *daran or *desen.
The imperative usually expresses the speaker's wish. When directed at a specific sentient agent, such as a human or an animal, it functions as a command, an instruction, or a motivational statement that compels the agent to realize the wish. Plain commands with non-honorific verbs (which are the majority of verbs) towards people in particular are terse, and can be softened by the imperatives of verbs of favor, such as and following the main verb's , although for colloquial brevity, the favor verbs can contract as in , or be elliptically omitted as in . Another option is to use the imperative of the honorific verb following the main verb's .
When not directed at a specific sentient agent, but rather the general idea of an agent ("let women/men/dogs/cats/etc be/do something," "may you rest in peace"), a non-sentient agent ("let rain/snow fall," "let wind blow"), or nothing ("peace be unto you"), the wish becomes impersonal and does not have the abrupt force of a command. Whether the agent is sentient or not, and specific or not, it can be optionally marked with the vocative particle yo (similar to the English o). Imperatives can also be part of a concessive clause similarly to the English subjunctive ("whatever it be", "be it this or that", "come rain or shine").
The honorific godan verbs are originally , , , , just like other godan/ verbs, though * was not found. These forms are obsolescent and only used for special effect, such as in advertisements. Historically, honorific verbs were rather than godan/yodan, and western imperative forms like , , , are attested. From these nidan verbs, apart from the godan offshoots, there still exist ichidan equivalents. Some rural eastern dialects still have .
With non-godan verbs, there are two imperative forms, one ending in âÂÂro and one in âÂÂyo. âÂÂRo has been characterized as used for speech, while âÂÂyo as used for writing. In actuality, this corresponds to a difference between based on the eastern Tokyo Japanese dialect, and , various literary stages of premodern Japanese based on western dialects. Both ro and yo were interjectional particles in Old Japanese, and were sometimes optional, sometimes obligatory with non-godan verbs. âÂÂYo became obligatory with non-godan verbs toward Early Middle Japanese, and its reduced variant âÂÂi arose during Late Middle Japanese. Historically and dialectally, , , , (all ichidan), and were all possible, with âÂÂyo and âÂÂi being the western forms, and âÂÂro being the eastern form. The division between western âÂÂyo/âÂÂi and eastern âÂÂro still exists today. According to a 1991 survey:
In modern Tokyo Japanese (eastern, specifically Yamanote Japanese), yo largely displaced ro in non-imperative contexts. Yo can be optionally added to modern imperative forms with no historical âÂÂyo, as in , , , ; ro can no longer be used this way, although historically it used to occasionally be, as with yodan imperatives like or . Although âÂÂyo imperatives already contain âÂÂyo and are primarily "written," it is not impossible for them to be followed by another colloquial yo, as in or . Apart from the difference between eastern and western dialects, there exists a register difference between âÂÂyo and âÂÂro within standard Japanese. âÂÂYo, as the more prestigious classical form of the former western capitals (Nara, Kyoto and Osaka), is still used in formal instructions, such as on test forms, in academic questions, on signage, in formal or polite quoted commands or concessive clauses (spoken or written), etc. On the other hand, âÂÂro, as the more colloquially common form, has a connotation of rudeness.
Unlike with most ichidan verbs, âÂÂro is optional (possibly dialectal) with and its honorific version . Kurero emerged in Edo Japanese during the late Edo period. Yo and i are optionally added, just as to any other imperative form.
Despite originally having the same conjugation as suru, the imperative form of âÂÂmasu(ru) is not *âÂÂmashiro. However, there used to be âÂÂmase i, with i being the western reduced form of yo. âÂÂMase yo exists, though not mandatorily like seyo, but only as âÂÂmase optionally followed by yo. âÂÂMashi is a later variant, characteristic of Shitamachi. It used to be common during the Meiji era, but now has a connotation of unrefined speech. âÂÂMase and âÂÂmashi are meant to be used with honorific verbs, as in , , , , etc, and not with ordinary verbs like * or *.
The modern western âÂÂi imperative has made its way to Tokyo in the "downtown" region of Shitamachi. It is not as well covered in education materials, although do sporadically mention it. When it is preceded by the vowel e, the resulting form is ÃÂ, ei or even e, in keeping with the common realizations of such combination (see ), hence se(e)/sei (= shiro/seyo) and ake(e)/akei (= akero/akeyo). In Kyushu, koi can be similarly smoothed out into ke(e) (compare the Tokyo variant sugàof ; more at ). Like yo, i can further attach to, among others, godan/yodan imperatives, as well as eastern âÂÂro imperatives, for example in , , , etc; the particle ya, which can otherwise follow imperatives just like yo, with a potential masculine ring, as in , , etc; and negative commands with , as in . It is also found in non-imperative constructions such as ka i (question marker), da i (copula), âÂÂta/âÂÂda i (perfect), although it has been said to be a variant of ne in these cases rather than of yo.
The older and more classical koyo ("come!") is rare in modern spoken dialects, but it was sometimes used as the written version of koi; for example, the linguist used koyo while analyzing nursery rhymes that contain koi.
Gozai and gozare are used as a more polite way to say "come!" instead of . They also occur in the concessive idiom nan de mo gozai/gozare (, ), which is synonymous with nan de mo koi. De gozare is a more polite equivalent to de are.
Are and de (wa) are have limited use in formal contexts, for example , , , , . De (wa) are also has a concessive use, as in , . This has been linked to a probable contraction from the identically sounding conditional base, de are, preceding the concessive particle âÂÂdo, as in de aredo. However, unambiguously imperative bases in ni seyo and ni shiro also have concessive uses, as in and
Unlike are, adjectival imperative forms derived from fusions with it (âÂÂku are â âÂÂkare) seem to be used mostly for concession, as in , , , , , , etc and occasionally for elevated wishes, as in or . The exceptional nakare ("let there not be") expresses elevated and/or motivational negative commands or wishes, as in , , etc. The phrase is used in . Nakare behaves syntactically like the negative imperative particle na, which is similarly placed after an attributive/conclusive verb, thus , , etc. Unfused âÂÂku are forms have also been found, as in .
When quoted, imperatives are followed by the quotative particles such as to(te) or tte, and then a word for saying, telling, asking, ordering, begging, wishing, hoping, praying, etc. The resulting clauses can be translated indiscriminately into English as direct speech ("she told me, 'Go!'", "he wished, "May you be well.") or indirect speech ("she told me to go", "he wished me well"). Typographically, the quotation marks can be used for "direct speech" in written stories, but the verb forms themselves are not any different whether "direct" or "indirect."
There are a few ways to make conditional clauses in Japanese, of which the verbally or adjectivally derived ways (rather than merely attaching conditional particles such as to) are termed the provisional, the conditional, and historically, the hypothetical, all of which include the particle âÂÂba, with the conditional more commonly omitting âÂÂba. These distinctive terms are proposed by , although other sources may confuse them in one way or another. Japanese terms include for the modern provisional, for the historical provisional, and for the historical hypothetical, all of which do not include the particle âÂÂba. However, some historical hypotheticals (mizenkei), such as nara(ba) and âÂÂtara(ba), have assumed the roles of modern provisionals (kateikei).
The provisional ends in âÂÂeba and expresses a prerequisite condition as in "provided that P happens, A naturally follows"; and a consequential condition as in "whenever P happens, A naturally follows." The conditional ends in âÂÂtara(ba)/âÂÂdara(ba) and expresses a contingent condition as in "if perchance P happens/happened, A has an opportunity to happen"; a temporal condition as in "when P happens/happened, A happens/happened;" and a consequential condition. Historically, the provisional could also express a past temporal condition ("when P happened"), and a causal condition ("because P happens/happened") which is now expressed with the particle kara. While the âÂÂeba provisional used to have a past temporal meaning ("when"), currently only the âÂÂtara(ba)/âÂÂdara(ba) conditional can express any temporal meaning, past or future. However, the interpretation of a future âÂÂtara(ba)/âÂÂdara(ba) condition can be either contingent ("if") or temporal ("when"), depending on the speaker's own conviction of the condition's likelihood: .
Both the provisional and conditional can be translated into English as "if", but the meanings are often different (although in some cases they can be very similar). The provisional apodosis ("then clause") naturally follows its protasis ("if clause"), and is expected or even desired to follow; while the conditional apodosis can be incidental to its protasis, or possibly be desired not to follow. This discrepancy is why the provisional is often used in advice on what to do, while the conditional in warnings on what not to do. Compare:
In the above examples, the outcomes of the apodoses, namely "going crazy" and "breaking it," are ordinarily undesirable, and thus ordinarily incompatible with the provisional; but it is not implausible for them to be desirable in inordinary contexts, such as in response to someone who intends to go crazy or break it. The desire for the provisional apodosis to obtain may still hold even if neither the provisional nor the conditional reads as a warning:
The desirability of the provisional apodosis sets its apart from an apodosis made with the particle to, which similarly expresses matter-of-fact conditions, only without an insinuation of a desired apodosis:
The conditional also allows room for doubt, or even counterfactuality, as in "if P had happened, A would have happened", and therefore is often followed by tentative statements in the past tense: . Without tentativity, the conditional would rather mean "when P happened, A happened": . The provisional can also be used for counterfactuality in the past tense: .
Nara(ba) is historically the hypothetical of the copula nari, but now used as the provisional of de aru â da, which additionally has de areba. When split by particles (wa, mo, etc), the modern de wa areba (â de areba) is normally used instead of the historical ni wa araba (â naraba). The copular nara(ba), spelt , is not to be confused with , also spelt in kana as . Nara(ba) is used when the speaker has found evidence to suppose that the protasis likely obtains:
The conditional form is created by using the kateikei base, followed by a conditional particle, usually the hypothetical/provisional , and occasionally with the elevated concessive .
The âÂÂeba ending can be colloquially reduced to âÂÂya(a), where the consonant b is weakened to the point of complete omission, as in , , , etc. In cases like , , etc, the consonants ty and sy may be used rather than ch and sh. The adjectival ending âÂÂkereba â âÂÂkerya(a) in particular can be further reduced to âÂÂkya(a), as in . In western dialects where âÂÂn is used instead of âÂÂnai, there are âÂÂnkerya(a) and âÂÂnkya(a) (from âÂÂnkereba), and âÂÂnya(a) (from âÂÂneba). These colloquial reductions are analogous to how âÂÂte wa/âÂÂde wa are reduced to âÂÂtya(a)/âÂÂdya(a), âÂÂte aru/âÂÂde aru/âÂÂte yaru/âÂÂde yaru to âÂÂty(a)aru/âÂÂdy(a)aru, , etc, although some of these reductions may be more dialectal than the others.
As is the case of the conclusives and attributives of nidan verbs, shinu and deku, their provisionals have been used in modern literature for literary flair before the 21st century, although currently their modern ichidan and godan counterparts are preferred.
The polite auxiliary âÂÂmasu has two options, the provisional âÂÂmasureba, and the morphologically hypothetical yet semantically provisional âÂÂmaseba. âÂÂMasureba has been said to be uncommon, while âÂÂmaseba has been said to be nonstandard.
The provisional can be followed by certain idiomatic apodoses that mean "it is good" or "it's not good" to express necessity or obligation ("should," "ought to," "need," "had better," "have to," "must"). The "it's not good" apodoses combine with negative protases, as in "if one doesn't do it, it's not good," and eastern and western forms can be mixed and matched arbitrarily:
In classical Japanese, there was a distinction between the provisional base, which expresses a prerequisite condition ("provided that one is/does"), and the hypothetical base, which expresses a contingent condition ("if one happens to be/do"). Furthermore, when these constructions are used in perfect clauses, they express temporal conditions ("when/because one had been/done"). Modern Japanese replaced the classical hypothetical base with the classical perfect hypothetical (which is dubbed the conditional by ), although the classical hypothetical lingers on in cliched phrases. The only exception is nara(ba), which became provisional. In the following table, the examples are given for , , and .
The idiom was the hypothetical form of the nidan verb . The phrase came from an archaic hypothetical phrase that literally meant "if it happens to be like that".
In earlier stages of Japanese, the particle was used in place of for what is known as the concessive, which was used in premodern Edo Japanese. In the modern paradigm, combinations of the gerund and the particle , or of the infinitive and the particle , are preferred, while the older concessive is used only in cliches or elevated writing.
The auxiliaries desu and âÂÂmasu, and the verb gozaru can be used to enhance politeness. In general, the more verbose forms with âÂÂmasu and even gozaimasu are more polite.
In principle, desu, de arimasu and de gozaimasu can be mere politeness enhancers and can attach to anything, even in such cases as âÂÂmasu desu, âÂÂmashita desu, âÂÂmasu de gozaimasu or (de) gozaimasu de gozaimasu.
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