Japanese conjugation

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 is preserved during conjugation, while the ending of the word is altered in some way to change the meaning. Japanese verb conjugations are independent of person, number and gender ; 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, which can result in several suffixes being strung together in a single verb form to express a combination of meanings.

Verb groups

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 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:

, also known as "pentagrade verbs"
, also known as "monograde verbs"
Irregular verbs, most notably: and

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 for any given inflection or suffix. With godan verbs, the conjugational stem can span all five columns of the gojūon kana table. 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.
This distinction can be observed by comparing conjugations of the two verb types, within the context of the gojūon 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.

Verb bases

Conjugable words are traditionally considered to have six possible. However, as a result of the language evolving, historical sound shifts, and the post‑WWII spelling reforms, three additional sub‑bases have emerged for verbs. Meanwhile, verbs no longer differentiate between the and the bases. 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 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 gojūon 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. This is noted with historical kana orthography in dictionaries; for example, from from and from . In modern Japanese, original instances of mid‑word consonant have since been dropped before all vowels except ..

Of the nine verb bases, the shūshikei/rentaikei, meireikei, and ren'yōkei bases can be considered fully conjugated forms without needing to append inflectional suffixes. In particular, the [|shūshikei/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, kanōkei, 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 i‑adjectives. 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:

Derivative verb bases

There are three modern verb base forms that are considered to be derived from older forms. These are the potential, hortative, and euphonic sub‑bases, 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 and the spontaneous voice. 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 kanōkei base. The historical development of the kanōkei 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 ‑amu ending to change: → → → →. The post‑WWII 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'yōkei 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'yōkei base.

The bases of ''suru''

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:

Group A: Suru itself and compounds of it and free nouns :,,,,, etc.
Group B: Compounds with bound Sino-Japanese morphemes that behave more like godan verbs. These often have full-fledged, interchangeable godan derivatives:,,, etc.
:Such a form as is supposed to be the classical Japanese equivalent to. Compare the following translations of 1 John 3:14 :
:::1917 classical:
:::1955 modern:
:However, aisenu as the negative of aisu would likely be confused with aisenu as the negative of the potential aiseru in modern Japanese. It is clear that aisenu is not the same as aisanu where they both occur in close proximity:.
:There is great variety among Group-B verbs as to whether to choose between the godan-negative ‑san/‑zu and the classical-negative ‑sen/‑zu, and there are indeed cases where only contexts can clarify whether ‑sen/‑zu are truly classical-negative, or actually godan-negative-potential. In general, it seems that if the Sino-Japanese stem contains a moraic obstruent as in, a moraic nasal as in, or lengthening mora as in, the godan options are less preferable with all auxiliaries, though not impossible. Thus, such forms as are more likely to be classical-negative, while such forms as are more likely to be godan-negative-potential; and while both and are unambiguously godan-negative, the former are not as likely as the latter.
Group C: Compounds with bound Sino-Japanese morphmes that behave more like upper ichidan verbs. These often have full-fledged, interchangeable upper ichidan derivatives:,,,, etc.
Group D: Compounds with bound Sino-Japanese morphemes that behave more like lower ichidan verbs. These may have full-fledged, interchangeable lower ichidan derivatives: and.

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, shiyō and shiro, the once prestigious western vowel e, as in sen and seyo, still has currency especially in formal or literary Japanese. Such variants as senai and sanai ; shin ; shō, seyō and sō ; sero ; and shiyo, sē and sei, remain dialectal or obsolete.


Irrealis	se shi sa	benkyō se benkyō shi benkyō sa	aisa aise aishi	tasse tasshi tassa	sasse sasshi	shinji shinze	shinze shinji
Passive	sareru serareru shirareru	benkyō sareru benkyō serareru benkyō shirareru	aisareru aiserareru aishirareru	tasserareru tasshirareru tassareru	sasserareru sasshirareru	shinjirareru shinzerareru	shinzerareru shinjirareru
Potential	dekiru	benkyō dekiru	aiseru aisereru aishireru aisuru koto ga dekiru aisu koto ga dekiru	tassereru tasshireru tasseru tassuru koto ga dekiru tassu koto ga dekiru	sassereru sasshireru sassuru koto ga dekiru sasshiru koto ga dekiru	shinjireru shinzereru shinjiru koto ga dekiru shinzuru koto ga dekiru	shinzereru shinjireru shinzuru koto ga dekiru shinzeru koto ga dekiru shinjiru koto ga dekiru
Causative	saseru sesaseru shisaseru	benkyō saseru benkyō sesaseru benkyō shisaseru	aisaseru aisesaseru aishisaseru	tassesaseru tasshisaseru tassaseru	sassesaseru sasshisaseru	shinjisaseru shinzesaseru	shinzesaseru shinjisaseru
Negative	shinai senu	benkyō shinai benkyō senu	aisanai aishinai aisanu aisenu	tasshinai tassanai tassenu tassanu tasshinu	sasshinai sassenu sasshinu	shinjinai shinjinu shinzenu	shinjinai shinzenai shinzenu shinjinu
Hortative	shiyō	benkyō shiyō	aisō aishiyō	tasshiyō tassō	sasshiyō	shinjiyō	shinjiyō shinzeyō
Infinitive	shi	benkyō shi	aishi	tasshi	sasshi	shinji	shinji shinze
Attributive/conclusive	suru	benkyō suru	aisuru aisu	tassuru tassu tasshiru	sassuru sasshiru	shinjiru shinzuru	shinzuru shinzeru shinjiru
Attributive/conclusive + beki	su beki	benkyō su beki	aisu beki	tassu beki tasshiru beki	sassu beki sasshiru beki	shinjiru beki shinzu beki	shinzu beki shinzeru beki shinjiru beki
Conditional	sureba	benkyō sureba	aisureba aiseba	tassureba tasseba tasshireba	sassureba sasshireba	shinjireba shinzureba	shinzureba shinzereba shinjireba
Imperative	shiro seyo	benkyō shiro benkyō seyo	aise aishiro aiseyo	tasshiro tasseyo tasshiyo tasse	sasshiro sasseyo sasshiyo	shinjiro shinjiyo shinzeyo	shinjiro shinzero shinzeyo shinjiyo

Focus particles and nucleus splitting

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:

Verbal nucleus: : I call him, she calls me, she will call me, etc.
Adjectival nucleus: : it is big, they are big, etc.
Nominal nucleus: : this is a book, those are books, etc.

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 subdues what comes before it to the background, while throwing focus onto what comes after; and mo 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, 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 in speech, and its focusing effect becomes ambiguous. De wa/''ja 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 ‑te/‑de wa also contract to ‑cha/‑ja.
Mo is often used to form concessive clauses: ;. De mo, as a sentence adverbial means "but" or "however". The gerundive ‑te/‑de mo'' are standard concessive constructions in modern Japanese: ;.

Copulae

The copulae are the basis of the nominal nucleus. It follows a noun, and means " is ," 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 functions as a type of evidential conditional. Darō 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 ‑masu, such as an adjective or a negative auxiliary. The past deshita and the tentative deshō are both meaningful and polite extenders to word forms that lack any mechanism to convey pastness and tentativity, namely the western negative ‑n.

English	Japanese	Function
I am I am justice‼		copularity with common nouns
To be, or not to be, that is the question:		copularity with common nouns
‘I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. ’		copularity with common nouns
You… Zura Kotarō⁉ It’s not Zura, it’s Katsuraaa‼		copularity with proper nouns
Look out! It’s the Cat! Catwoman’s here!		copularity with proper nouns
Batman’s here!		copularity with demonstrative pronouns
To be, or not to be, I there’s the point,		copularity with demonstrative pronouns
‘You were always something of a featherbrain in your youth,’ ‘ for you were a beauty in your day, Cynthia.’		copularity with adjectival nouns
“I have sought Mistress Mishley’s aid in tracking down the tomboy who did such a foolish thing as to hide up in a tree” “What⁉ Don’t give me that baloney!” Mishley is the purest of all beings in this world. “I’m so sorry, Mishley! I was an idiot for making you worry!”		copularity with adjectival nouns
“As if I needed to spell it out! There’s no way in hell Mishley, purity in human form, would get in on a plot hatched by a Hell’s messenger like you, now is there⁉” “Shut up, you lowly hellspawn! You’ve committed the offense of lying about what Mishley does, just go straight back to Hell――”		copularity with auxiliary nouns
They say it’s a terrifying place. Many have died there. They say ascetics just keep dying because of the immensely severe asceticism. Do you wish to die too?		copularity with auxiliary nouns
“Thank you. You’re cute too, Big Brother!”		politeness
Well, it wasn't a very successful meeting.		politeness and pastness
Might I ask you to go to the hospital with me?		politeness and tentativity
Did you ever run into something like that kind of interest in running one’s own business in your research?		politeness, pastness and tentativity

Copulae: Conjugation table

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 → de and to, which yielded three variants, ni ari/''ni aru → nari/naru, de ari/de aru → da and to ari/to aru → tari/taru, the last of which fell out of use, but did phonetically coincide with te ari/te aru → 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.

The original conclusive de ari, was replaced by the attributive de aru, which evolved into the informal conclusive da, and the formal conclusive de aru. In terms of formality and politeness:
*Da is informal and impolite. Depending on specifically what precedes it, da can be perceived as abrupt or too masculine, and therefore is customarily omitted in some cases.
*De aru is formal and nonpolite.
*Desu is nonformal and polite.
*De arimasu is formal and polite.
Da/datta/darō are the colloquial contractions of de aru/de atta/de arō in eastern dialects. Their western equivalents include ja/jatta/jarō and ya/yatta/yarō. Ja/jatta/jarō, along with other western features, are occasionally used in faux-archaic speech or old people's speech rather dialectal speech; for example, the character Gandalf, an ancient wizard from The Lord of the Rings, is made to speak with a few selectively chosen western features, while still retaining some eastern features, in the Japanese translations.
is the honorific version of aru, and gozaimasu is the honorific version of arimasu. Gozaru has most of the forms that aru does, although it additionally undergoes a minor sound change in the polite conclusive/attributive gozarimasu → gozaimasu and the imperative gozare → gozai. Gozaimasu is authentically used in modern Japanese, while gozaru, gozarimasu and gozaimasuru are used for effect, such as in theatrical or humorous lines.
The current attributive form of de aru is still de aru. Da additionally takes naru → na as its attributive form only in adjectival verbs, as in, and after the auxiliaries, and, as in and ; while the particle no is used after nouns, as in or. However, since no also expresses possession, this may cause ambiguity, as in ; moreover, some nouns can function as either "adjectival verbs" or "nouns", and take either na or no, such as. The old naru and taru can still be used for literary effect, as in,,,, or in such idiom as or. Incidentally, an ancient possessive na was fossilized in words like,,, etc. There is also a niche distinction between and. Na is also used before the nominalizer no, as in.De is morphologically a gerund, for it is contructed by combining its infinitive with the gerundive particle ‑te as with any other gerund. In modern Japanese, it itself functions as both an infinitive and a gerund. When combining with aru to create finite forms, it is de that is used, not ni which is classical and merely fossilized in the attributive na and the provisional nara. Another gerund, de atte is occasionally found in writing:.De and de ari are the more common infinitives:. It is rare to find ni used alone with an ordinary noun: ; ni meaning "as," however, can be treated as an infinitive:. Other types of nouns, such as adjectival nouns, auxiliary nouns, demonstrative pronouns etc, can be readily paired with ni when used adverbially.
The infinitives combine with different words, each with its own parallel:
*de + aru → de aru, parallel with akaku + aru → akaku aru and nomi + suru → nomi suru
*de + nai → de nai, parallel with akaku + nai → akaku nai and nomi + shinai → nomi shinai
*de ari + ‑masu → de arimasu, parallel with nomi + ‑masu → nomimasu
The above formations allow "splitting", or adding particles like wa or mo between the infinitive forms and the following verbs, which would be impossible with da, akai and nomu alone:
*da, parallel with akai and nomu
*de wa aru, parallel with akaku wa aru and nomi wa suru
*de wa nai, parallel with akaku wa nai and nomi wa shinai
The particles wa and mo are often added, especially to the negatives, although not required in principle. Wa puts focus on what goes after it, while mo puts focus what goes before it. In the following sentences, the focused information is underlined for the Japanese originals and the literal English translations; for the non-literal English translations, all-caps type emulates how an English speaker would emphasize the focused information.
*
*
*
*
Sometimes de and aru can be split quite widely:
*
While de nai/arimasen are sometimes used in formal contexts, in ordinary speech ja nai/ja arimasen are used instead. In this case, even though ja is etymologically a colloquially reduced version of de wa, ja nai/arimasen are, functionally, colloquial versions of either de nai/arimasen, which focus on what comes before them, or de wa nai/arimasen which focus on nai/arimasen. Some speakers distinguish the short for de and the long for de wa.
*
*
While de arimasen and de arimasen deshita are often recommended, de nai desu and de nakatta desu are acceptable colloquial alternatives. For the idiosyncratic de aranai and de arimashinai, see Negative: Conjugation table.
De areba is the regular way of forming in modern Japanese. Naraba is kept as the [|conditional] of da, and along with taraba, retains the old way of forming conditionals. See #Conditional: Conjugation table for more.
Desu, a copula of uncertain origin, takes its missing forms from de aru and de arimasu, the latter of which is conceivably the ancestor of desu.
Although, and were originally conjugations of and, they are now also used as particles or auxiliaries and can attach directly to other verbs' conclusive/attributive forms, as in,. Unlike da which is inherently blunt and only suitable for familiar speech, nara and darō are suitable for writing. Desu, deshita and deshō can add politeness the negative auxiliaries ‑n and ‑nai, as well as adjectives:
*Arimasen/gozaimasen / nai desu/de arimasu/de gozaimasu / naku arimasu / nō gozaimasu
*Arimasen/gozaimasen deshō / nai deshō/de arimashō/de gozaimashō / naku arimashō / nō gozaimashō
*Arimasen/gozaimasen deshita / nakatta desu/de arimasu/de gozaimasu / naku arimashita / nō gozaimashita
*Arimasen/gozaimasen deshita deshō / nakatta deshō/de arimasu/de gozaimasu / naku arimashita deshō / nō gozaimashita deshō
*Akai desu/de arimasu/de gozaimasu / akaku arimasu / akō gozaimasu
*Akai deshō/de arimashō/de gozaimashō / akaku arimashō / akō gozaimashō
*Akakatta desu/de arimasu/de gozaimasu / akaku arimashita / akō gozaimashita
*Akakatta deshō/de arimasu/de gozaimasu / akaku arimashita deshō / akō gozaimashita deshō
As shown above, desu does not have its own negative form, and instead borrows de arimasen from de arimasu. However, the auxiliary ‑n in de arimasen in turn does not have its own past and tentative form, therefore deshita and deshō have to be added. The past tentative ‑tarō is infrequent, thus instead of deshitarō, deshita deshō'' is preferred.

Copulae: Grammatical compatibility

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 → da/''ja and de arimasu → desu; the negative forms remain uncontracted, meaning there is no such form as *daran or *desen''.

Potential

Gerund

Imperative

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 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 gerund, 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 infinitive.
When not directed at a specific sentient agent, but rather the general idea of an agent, a non-sentient agent, or nothing, 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. Imperatives can also be part of a concessive clause similarly to the English subjunctive

English	Japanese	Function
“Class started! Sit down, you dogs!”		plain command
“We are camping here tonight. Eat dinner and go to sleep early.” “Rise, wake up your men at once. Quietly, without making any noise.”		plain command
“O wind, blow, rage! Blow!”		plain command
“Wreck that mountain castle! Make it rain! Make the wind blow!”		plain command
All you bastards that crushed her‼ Die, die, just die‼ Bomba‼ Kill them‼ All of them‼		plain command
Drop dead, Kenneth! You die too, Doctor‼		plain command
If not, think of your own father for a change!		plain command
stop making things worse, I beg of you!		plain command
please call me “Satchan.”		plain command
please make use of this elevator.		plain command
Read the contract well before stamping.		plain command
Welcome home!		plain command
Don’t make fun of gossip shows. Don’t jeer at the “voyeur’s spirit”.		plain command
STOP		instructional command
Read the following passage and answer the questions.		instructional command
⑦ Thou shalt not engage in road rage. ⑧ Show proper decorum to thy fellow drivers.		instructional command
New PR member, do your best!		motivational command
I won’t let you die‼………… Live, for me‼		motivational command
Stay hungry! Stay foolish!		motivational command
If you’re strong, stay strong till the end! If you’re weak, stay weak till the end!		motivational command
Be just! Be strong! Be good! Show strength!		motivational command
Let it rain‼ Rain, storm……‼ One more time………… Keep pouring for just one more time, please‼		literary wish
God said, “Let there be a great void between the waters, let it separate water from water.”		literary wish
heaven bear witness, God’s peace be with him. Heav’n’s peace be with him: peace be with him.		literary wish
A plaything let woman be, pure and fine like the precious stone, illumined with the virtues of a world not yet come.		literary wish
May the victims’ souls rest in eternal peace.		literary wish
Lest Darkness Fall;		literary wish
believe it or not; would you believe it; lo and behold; wait for it; get this;		literary wish
The way of life of someone who has gone all the way through with anything, be it good or bad, is beautiful.		concession
Whether it’s the “ability to not miss the moment nature smiles” or “serendipity”, I’d say a state of heightened sensitivity when it happens is essential.		concession
in any event/case; anyway		concession
Obviously, you’re free to pamper and dote on your own pet however you want to, whether it’s a dog, a cat or any other animal.		concession
knowing full well that whatever they are, be they the Vietnam War or a homicide, won’t just come flying out at you from that convex glass screen that is as warm as a hand warmer if you touch it a little bit,		concession
His elder brothers leave their village with their circles for new settlements, be they far or near.		concession
Come rain or wind, as Beethoven roamed the outskirts of Vienna without a care about the weather,		concession

Imperative: Conjugation table

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 ‑ro and one in ‑yo. ‑Ro has been characterized as used for speech, while ‑yo 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. ‑Yo became obligatory with non-godan verbs toward Early Middle Japanese, and its reduced variant ‑i arose during Late Middle Japanese. Historically and dialectally,,,, , and were all possible, with ‑yo and ‑i being the western forms, and ‑ro being the eastern form. The division between western ‑yo/‑i and eastern ‑ro still exists today. According to a 1991 survey:‑Ro dominates eastern dialects.‑Yo is found mostly in central Chūbu and eastern Kyushu.‑I dominates western dialects in Honshu and Shikoku, and marginally in Shitamachi, Tokyo.‑Re, likely as a shortened ‑ro‑i, is found in the northernmost dialects in Hokkaido and the southernmost ones in Kyushu.Shiro dominates eastern dialects, while sē does western dialects. Seyo and shiyo concentrate in central Chūbu, while sero and sere do in western Kyushu.

There exist such fused forms as myo, okyo, akyo and sho in Shizuoka Prefecture and some surrounding areas.Koi occurs consistently across Japan, although kō has a strong presence in the east. There is a concentration of kē and ke in Kyushu. Koyo is rare in contemporary Japanese dialects, despite being the standard form in classical Japanese. According to another account, koro occurs in an Akita dialect, while kiro is found in Ibaraki. Other variants include kiyo, kī, kui, keyo, etc.
In some dialects, okiro, akero, nero, koro, shiro are actually hortative forms, not imperative forms.

In modern Tokyo Japanese, yo largely displaced ro in non-imperative contexts. Yo can be optionally added to modern imperative forms with no historical ‑yo, as in,,, ; ro can no longer be used this way, although historically it used to occasionally be, as with yodan imperatives like or. Although ‑yo imperatives already contain ‑yo 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 ‑yo and ‑ro within standard Japanese. ‑Yo, as the more prestigious classical form of the former western capitals, 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, etc. On the other hand, ‑ro, as the more colloquially common form, has a connotation of rudeness.
Unlike with most ichidan verbs, ‑ro is optional 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 ‑masu is not *‑mashiro. However, there used to be ‑mase i, with i being the western reduced form of yo. ‑Mase yo exists, though not mandatorily like seyo, but only as ‑mase optionally followed by yo. ‑Mashi is a later variant, characteristic of Shitamachi. It used to be common during the Meiji era, but now has a connotation of unrefined speech. ‑Mase and ‑mashi are meant to be used with honorific verbs, as in,,,, etc, and not with ordinary verbs like * or *.
The modern western ‑i 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 ē, ei or even e, in keeping with the common realizations of such combination, hence se/sei and ake/akei. In Kyushu, koi can be similarly smoothed out into ke. Like yo, i can further attach to, among others, godan/''yodan imperatives, as well as eastern ‑ro 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 na following conclusives, as in. It is also found in non-imperative constructions such as ka i, da i, ‑ta/‑da i, although it has been said to be a variant of ne in these cases rather than of yo.
The older and more classical koyo is rare in modern spoken dialects, but it was sometimes used as the written version of koi; for example, the linguist Kasuga Masaji 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 are have limited use in formal contexts, for example,,,,. De 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 ‑do, 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, seem to be used mostly for concession, as in,,,,,, etc and occasionally for elevated wishes, as in or. The exceptional nakare 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 ‑ku are'' forms have also been found, as in.

Imperative: Grammatical compatibility

When quoted, imperatives are followed by the quotative particles such as to 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 or indirect speech. 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."

English	Japanese	Function
‘Fly, you fools!’ he cried, and was gone.		quoted command
No, don’t ask me to come back to Biloxi. Don’t ask me to face the demons that have haunted me for six years. Don’t ask me to become personally involved in your life.		quoted command
it didn’t mean she intended to gushingly enquire how high when he said jump.		quoted command
Sakurauchi had already ordered that anyone who resisted, except Kumematsu, be put to the sword.		quoted command
Orders to be on guard against night raids were common, but one to sleep early, as would be issued to children, was unusual. At all events, since Nobunaga’s order was to sleep early, everyone finished dinner and promptly went to sleep.		quoted command
“ Tell the Demon King to come out quickly and face me in battle.”		quoted command
The allure of the taiga was already welling up all over his body from the depths of his soul; enticing and deceptive, his distant hometown which he had not heard of was beckoning him to quickly escape from his drab routine.		quoted command
“ If I’d been told on the phone to come back, I would’ve been flying home……!” If her mother forgot, her father should’ve at least said, “Takaomi’s here, tell her to get back home.”		quoted command
“……Go to the Archbishop? You’re telling me to stab the Archbishop to death?” “You get stabbed to death!”		quoted command
She was told it was ladylike to be beautiful, so she dressed up.		quoted wish
It was a longstanding convention that women must be beautiful.		quoted wish
The Emperor is the Essence who prays that our land and people be at peace.		quoted wish
The only thing to do now is to pray, “O Mr Yamada’s soul, rest in peace.”		quoted wish
It also means to wish your partner as well as you would wish yourself.		quoted wish

Conditional

There are a few ways to make conditional clauses in Japanese, of which the verbally or adjectivally derived ways are termed the provisional, the conditional, and historically, the hypothetical, all of which include the particle ‑ba, with the conditional more commonly omitting ‑ba. 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 ‑ba. However, some historical hypotheticals, such as nara and ‑tara, have assumed the roles of modern provisionals.
The provisional ends in ‑eba 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 ‑tara/''‑dara 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, and a causal condition which is now expressed with the particle kara. While the ‑eba provisional used to have a past temporal meaning, currently only the ‑tara/‑dara conditional can express any temporal meaning, past or future. However, the interpretation of a future ‑tara/‑dara condition can be either contingent or temporal, 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. The provisional apodosis naturally follows its protasis, 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:
"If you study twenty hours a day, you go crazy."
*Provisional:
*Conditional:
"If you drop it, it breaks / it'll break."
*Provisional:
*Conditional:
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:
"If you don't ask your teacher, you won't know the answer."
*Provisional:
*Conditional:
The desirability of the provisional adoposis 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:

"If you press this button, you can buy commutation tickets."
*Provisional:

*With to:

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 is historically the hypothetical of the copula nari, but now used as the provisional of de aru → da, which additionally has de areba. When split by particles, the modern de wa areba is normally used instead of the historical ni wa araba. The copular nara, spelt, is not to be confused with, also spelt in kana as. Nara is used when the speaker has found evidence to suppose that the protasis likely obtains:
English Japanese Function
If my son succeeds, he shall be a great figure whose like is rarely seen, but even if he fails, he shall not be accountable to the land. prerequisite condition
If you practice, you'll get better. prerequisite condition
If you wanna laugh, go ahead and laugh. prerequisite condition
If it rains, the sports festival will be postponed. prerequisite condition
I'd be delighted if this book proved helpful to those intending to join a caring profession. prerequisite condition
If you give the money at all, give it all willingly. prerequisite condition
The nastier criticism is, the more readers lap it up. prerequisite condition
Many a little makes a mickle. consequential condition
2 times 2 is 4. consequential condition
Clicking on the linked items brings up relevant pages. consequential condition
There's safety in numbers. consequential condition
If you happen to see him, tell him to come and see me. contingent condition
If I say it's white, it's white. contingent condition
She's the type that would risk her life for love. contingent condition
From now on, too, I don’t want to regret things, thinking that I should have done things differently that time. counterfactual condition
If it were me, I wouldn't do such thing. counterfactual condition
It'd be great if this child were a boy. counterfactual condition
If it'd been him, he wouldn't've made such a blunder. counterfactual condition
His death will turn his family adrift. temporal condition
I'll be going as soon as I'm done with this, so wait a little bit, okay? temporal condition
The door opened when pushed. temporal condition
Once you’ve bought the Editor'' book, it comes with a bonus section called “An Inside Look into Character Encoding.” temporal condition
If I told you the truth that when we die, we’re always reborn in the Land of Absolute Bliss, would you believe it? temporal condition

Conditional: Conjugation table
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 ‑eba ending can be colloquially reduced to ‑ya, 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 ‑kereba → ‑kerya in particular can be further reduced to ‑kya, as in. In western dialects where ‑n is used instead of ‑nai, there are ‑nkerya and ‑nkya, and ‑nya. These colloquial reductions are analogous to how ‑te wa/‑de wa are reduced to ‑tya(a)/‑dya(a), ‑te aru/‑de aru/‑te yaru/‑de yaru to ‑ty(a)aru/‑dy(a)aru, de wa to dya(a) to ja(a), and de atte to dy(a)atte to j(a)atte, etc, although some of these reductions may be more dialectal than the others.
The polite auxiliary ‑masu has two options, the provisional ‑masureba, and the morphologically hypothetical yet semantically provisional ‑maseba. ‑Masureba has been said to be uncommon, while ‑maseba has been said to be nonstandard.
The western negative auxiliary ‑neba is usually found in the western construction ‑neba naran and the partially western and partially eastern ‑neba naranai, both of which are quivalent to the fully eastern ‑nakereba naranai. The polite equivalent of these are ‑neba/‑nakereba narimasen, and the past forms are ‑neba/‑nakereba narananda/naranakatta/narimasen deshita.
Conditional: Grammatical compatibility
The provisional can be followed by certain idiomatic apodoses that mean "it is good" or "it is not good" to express necessity or obligation.
Apodosis English Japanese
What should we do then, I wonder.
Who should I see about registering for this conference?

If you want to get into that university you'll have to persevere at your studies.

A woman living alone must be take great care.

You must refrain from unnecessarily prying.

You have to study hard like your brother.

He needs to gain some weight.

Provisional vs hypothetical
In classical Japanese, there was a distinction between the provisional base, which expresses a prerequisite condition, and the hypothetical base, which expresses a contingent condition. Furthermore, when these constructions are used in perfect clauses, they express temporal conditions. Modern Japanese replaced the classical hypothetical base with the classical perfect hypothetical, although the classical hypothetical lingers on in cliched phrases. The only exception is nara, 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".
Concessive
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.
Politeness stylization
The auxilaries desu and ‑masu, and the verb gozaru can be used to enhance politeness. In general, the more verbose forms with ‑masu and even gozaimasu are more polite.
Desu substitutes de aru and da for more politeness. Desu adds politeness and expresses tense and affirmativity. It is common to attach desu to adjectives as in akai desu, but not to verbs as in kaku desu, the latter of which is less preferable than kakimasu:
*de aru / da → desu
Desu makes verbs and adjectives more polite. Desu only adds politeness:
*akai → akai desu, akaku nai → akaku nai desu
*akakatta → akakatta desu, akaku nakatta → akaku nakatta desu
*kaku → kaku desu, kakanai → kakanai desu
*kaita → kaita desu, kakanakatta → kakanakatta desu
*nai → nai desu
*nakatta → nakatta desu
*de nai → de nai desu
*de nakatta → de nakatta desu
Deshita substitutes de atta and datta for more politeness. Deshita adds politeness and expresses tense and affirmativity:
*de atta / datta → deshita
Deshita makes past adjectives more polite. Deshita adds politeness and expresses tense and affirmativity:
*akakatta → akai deshita
‑Masu makes nonpast affirmative verbs more polite. ‑Masu adds politeness and expresses tense and affirmativity:
*kaku → kakimasu
*aru → arimasu
*de aru / da → de arimasu
‑Masen makes nonpast negative verbs more polite. ‑Masen adds politeness and expresses tense and negativity:
*kakanai → kakimasen
*nai → arimasen
*de nai → de arimasen
‑Masen deshita makes past negative verbs more polite. ‑Masen adds politeness and expresses negativity, while deshita maintains politeness and expresses tense:
*akaku nakatta → akaku arimasen deshita
*kakanakatta → kakimasen deshita
*nakatta → arimasen deshita
*de nakatta → de arimasen deshita
Adjectives cannot directly combine with ‑masen, but with arimasen:
*akaku nai → akaku arimasen
*akaku nakatta → akaku arimasen deshita
‑Mashita makes past affirmative verbs more polite. ‑Mashita adds politeness and expresses tense and affirmativity:
*kaita → kakimashita
*atta → arimashita
*de atta / datta → de arimashita
Desu can further attach to ‑masu, ‑masen, ‑mashita for even more politeness, but such attachments have been characterized as, "excessively polite", "unrefined" or "ingratiating". Unlike deshita and deshō, desu does not add meaning, only politeness, which makes it problematic in these cases:
*kakimasu → kakimasu desu, kakimasen → kakimasen desu, kakimashita → kakimashita desu
Deshō makes nonpast affirmative tentative verbs, and past and nonpast tentative adjectives, more polite. The main verbs/adjectives express tense and affirmativity or negativity, while deshō adds politeness and expresses tentativity:
*akai de arō / akai darō / akakarō → akai deshō
*akakatta de arō / akakatta darō / akakattarō → akakatta deshō
*akaku nai de arō / akaku nai darō / akaku nakarō → akaku nai/arimasen deshō
*akaku nakatta de arō / akaku nakatta darō / akaku nakattarō → akaku nakatta deshō
*kaku de arō / kaku darō / kakō → kakimasu/kaku deshō
*kaita de arō / kaita darō / kaitarō → kakimashita/kaita deshō
*kakanai de arō / kakanai darō / kakanakarō → kakimasen/kakanai deshō
*kakanakatta de arō / kakanakatta darō / kakanakattarō → kakanakatta deshō
*aru de arō / aru darō / arō → arimasu/aru deshō
*atta de arō / atta darō / attarō → arimashita/atta deshō
*nai de arō / nai darō / nakarō → arimasen/nai deshō
*nakatta de arō / nakatta darō / nakattarō → nakatta deshō
*de aru de arō / de aru darō / de arō / darō → deshō / de arimasu deshō
*de atta de arō / de atta darō / de attarō / datta darō / dattarō → de arimashita/atta deshō
*de nai de arō / de nai darō / de nakarō → de arimasen/nai deshō
*de nakatta de arō / de nakatta darō / de nakattarō → de nakatta deshō
‑Masen deshita deshō makes past negative tentative verbs more polite. ‑Masen adds politeness and expresses negativity, deshita maintains politeness and expresses tense, while deshō maintains politeness and expresses tentativity:
*akaku nakatta darō / akaku nakattarō → akaku arimasen deshita deshō
*kakanakatta darō / kakanakattarō → kakimasen deshita deshō
*nakatta darō / nakattarō → arimasen deshita deshō
*de nakatta darō / de nakattarō → de arimasen deshita deshō
Deshitarō can substitute deshita deshō, and ‑mashitarō can substitute ‑mashita deshō, although both are uncommon.
‑Mashō makes nonpast affirmative tentative/hortative verbs more polite. Whether the verb is tentative or hortative is contextual, but verbs with human agency tend to be hortative, and those without tend to be tentative. ‑Mashō adds politeness, and expresses tense, affirmativity and tentativity/hortativity:
*kakō → kakimashō
*kumorō → kumorimashō
*arō → arimashō
*de arō / darō → de arimashō
Gozaimasu substitutes or appends to ‑masu, arimasu and desu for even more politeness. Extra instances of desu, deshita and deshō can be added to make up for missing forms. The negative and past forms can be based on the original verb/adjective, or based on gozaimasu, or supplied with deshita:
*Nonpast affirmatives:
**akai desu → akō gozaimasu, akai deshō → akō gozaimashō
**kakimasu / kaku desu → kaku de gozaimasu / kakimasu de gozaimasu, kakimasu/kaku deshō / kakimashō → kaku de gozaimashō / kakimasu de gozaimashō
**arimasu / aru desu → gozaimasu, arimasu/aru deshō / arimashō → gozaimashō
**desu / de arimasu → de gozaimasu, deshō / de arimasu/aru deshō / de arimashō → de gozaimashō
*Nonpast negatives based on gozaimasen:
**akaku nai desu / akaku arimasen → akaku/akō gozaimasen, akaku nai/arimasen deshō → akaku/akō gozaimasen deshō
**kakimasen / kakanai desu → kaku de gozaimasen / kakimasu de gozaimasen, kakimasen/kakanai deshō → kaku de gozaimasen deshō / kakimasu de gozaimasen deshō
**arimasen / nai desu → gozaimasen, arimasen/nai deshō → gozaimasen deshō
**de arimasen / de nai desu → de gozaimasen, de arimasen/nai deshō → de gozaimasen deshō
*Nonpast negatives based on the main verbs:
**kakimasen / kakanai desu → kakanai de gozaimasu / kakimasen de gozaimasu, kakimasen/kakanai deshō → kakanai de gozaimashō / kakimasen de gozaimashō
*Past affirmatives based on gozaimashita:
**akakatta desu / akai deshita → akō gozaimashita, akakatta deshō → akō gozaimashita deshō
**kakimashita / kaita desu → kaku de gozaimashita, kakimashita/kaita deshō → kaku de gozaimashita deshō
**arimashita / atta desu → gozaimashita, arimashita/atta deshō → gozaimashita deshō
**deshita / de arimashita → de gozaimashita, deshita deshō / de arimashita/atta deshō → de gozaimashita deshō
*Past affirmatives based on the main verbs/adjectives:
**akakatta desu / akai deshita → akakatta de gozaimasu, akakatta deshō → akakatta de gozaimashō
**kakimashita / kaita desu → kaita de gozaimasu, kakimashita/kaita deshō → kaita de gozaimashō
*Past negatives based on gozaimasen deshita:
**akaku nakatta desu / akaku arimasen deshita → akaku/akō gozaimasen deshita, akaku nakatta/arimasen deshō → akaku/akō gozaimasen deshita deshō
**kakimasen deshita / kakanakatta desu → kaku de gozaimasen deshita, kakimasen deshita deshō / kakanakatta deshō → kaku de gozaimasen deshita deshō
**arimasen deshita / nakatta desu → gozaimasen deshita, arimasen deshita deshō / nakatta deshō → gozaimasen deshita deshō
**de arimasen deshita / de nakatta desu → de gozaimasen deshita, de arimasen deshita deshō / de nakatta deshō → de gozaimasen deshita deshō
*Past negatives based on the main verbs/adjectives:
**akaku nakatta desu / akaku arimasen deshita → akaku nakatta de gozaimasu, akaku nakatta/arimasen deshō → akaku nakatta de gozaimashō
**kakimasen deshita / kakanakatta desu → kakanakatta de gozaimasu, kakimasen deshita deshō / kakanakatta deshō → kakanakatta de gozaimashō
Gozaimasu deshō can substitute gozaimashō.
In principle, desu, de arimasu and de gozaimasu can be mere politeness enhancers and can attach to anything, even in such cases as ‑masu desu, ‑mashita desu, ‑masu de gozaimasu or gozaimasu de gozaimasu.

Apodosis	English	Japanese
	What should we do then, I wonder.
	Who should I see about registering for this conference?
	If you want to get into that university you'll have to persevere at your studies.
	A woman living alone must be take great care.
	You must refrain from unnecessarily prying.
	You have to study hard like your brother.
	He needs to gain some weight.