Study tool · Grammar

Japanese conjugation drill

Type polite, negative, past, te-form, and later verb voices for a curated in-repo list. Misses show the rule.

Published 8 min read

How to use this tool

  1. Choose word classes you already met in a course. Leave unknown classes unchecked.
  2. Start with polite, negative, past, and te-form. Add potential, passive, causative, and volitional later.
  3. Type the form in Japanese. On a miss, read the rule, then continue.
  4. When a class feels automatic, stop drilling it and put example sentences into your grammar path.

Conjugation drill

Type the form. Misses show the rule and stay in this browser under sj101.conj-weak.

Word class
Forms

This page is typed recall over a curated list of common verbs and adjectives. The list lives in this repository. It is not a licensed deck.

Use it after a course has shown the class. A chart is not a substitute for sentences.

After a round

A drill is not a grammar path. Return to the grammar hub for explanations, the grammar shortlist for a tighter pick, and Bunpro if the next job is retrieving the pattern inside a sentence.

Godan chart

Godan verbs change the last う-row kana.

Form Pattern 書く
Polite い-row + ます 書きます
Negative あ-row + ない (う → わ) 書かない
Te-form く→いて, ぐ→いで, す→して, ぬ/ぶ/む→んで, う/つ/る→って 書いて
Past Same as te-form, て→た / で→だ 書いた
Potential え-row + る 書ける
Passive あ-row + れる 書かれる
Causative あ-row + せる 書かせる
Volitional お-row + う 書こう

行く is the usual exception: 行って, 行った.

Ichidan chart

Ichidan verbs drop る.

Form Pattern 食べる
Polite stem + ます 食べます
Negative stem + ない 食べない
Past stem + た 食べた
Te-form stem + て 食べて
Potential / passive stem + られる 食べられる
Causative stem + させる 食べさせる
Volitional stem + よう 食べよう

Irregular verbs

Lemma Polite Te-form Negative
する します して しない
来る 来ます 来て 来ない
勉強する 勉強します 勉強して 勉強しない

Adjective chart

Class Polite Negative Past Te-form
い-adjective 高いです 高くない 高かった 高くて
いい いいです よくない よかった よくて
な-adjective 静かです 静かじゃない 静かだった 静かで

The drill also accepts 静かではない for the な-adjective negative.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a complete conjugation course?

No. It is recall practice for forms you already saw. Use a grammar explanation source first, then drill.

Why does 行く become 行って instead of 行いて?

行く is a godan exception. Textbook て-form is 行って, and the past is 行った.

Why does いい become よくない?

いい is the common dictionary form of よい. Negative, past, and te-form use the よ stem.