う - Verbs［ない・ません］- Grammar Discussion

Grammar Points
#1

う - Verbs (negative form)

Structure

Casual

座る + らない
歌う + わない
歩く + かない
話す + さない
打つ + たない
死ぬ + なない
飛ぶ + ばない
休む + まない
泳ぐ + がない

Exceptions:
ある ￫ ない

Formal

座る + りません
座る + らない です

歌う + いません
歌う + わない です

歩く + きません
歩く + かない です

話す + しません
話す + さない です

打つ + ちません
打つ + たない です

死ぬ + にません
死ぬ + なない です

飛ぶ + びません
飛ぶ + ばない です

休む + みません
休む + まない です

泳ぐ + ぎません
泳ぐ + がない です

Exceptions:
ある ￫ ありません
ないです

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#2

For crying out loud, stop using verbs that end with る when you’re quizzing for う-verbs. Unless I missed a lesson for memorizing う-verbs that end with る, it feels like some cheap ‘gotcha!’ or trick question.
Also, the explanation for identifying verbs ending withる that are う-verbs is completely unhelpful in terms of lesosns (“These verbs can be identified by the る changing, rather than being removed when conjugated”). That’s nice, but until I actually conjugate the verb, I won’t know if it’s a る-verb or not. And then I failed the test.

#3

Hey there! Thanks for reaching out.

Remember that in essence, verbs will always fall into one of three categories:

  • Godan (Also known as う-verbs, one-step or Group 1 Verbs)
  • Ichidan (Also known as る-verbs, five-step or Group 2 Verbs)
  • Special verbs (くる and する, or Group 3 Verbs)

This is a fundamental part of Japanese, so it’s super useful to have a solid grasp of it.

Ichidan and godan る-ending verbs can be tricky to differentiate from one another, I can totally see where your frustration comes from. I’ve listed some resources here for you to help you out!

In the off-chance that you skipped those lessons (we don’t teach ない・ません without teaching the base lesson first), here they are:

This video helped me out a lot back when I was studying this concept:

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any more questions.

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