Kansai Dialect - Grammar - Verbs

Verbs

Kansai-ben also has two types of regular verb, godan verbs and ichidan verbs, and two irregular verbs, kuru ("to come") and suru ("to do"), but some conjugations are different from standard Japanese.

The geminated consonants found in godan verbs of standard Japanese verbal inflections are usually replaced with long vowels (often shortened in 3 morae verbs) in Kansai-ben (See also Late Middle Japanese#Onbin). Thus, for the verb iu/yū ("to say"), the past tense in standard Japanese itta or yutta ("said") becomes yūta in Kansai-ben. This particular verb is a dead giveaway of a native Kansai speaker, as most will unconsciously say yūte instead of itte or yutte even if well-practiced at speaking in standard Japanese. Other examples of geminate replacement are waratta ("laughed") becoming warōta or warota and moratta ("received") becoming morōta, morota or even mōta.

The suffix -te shimau (to finish something or to do something in unintentional or unfortunate circumstances) is contracted to -chimau or -chau in colloquial Tokyo speech but to -temau in Kansai speech. Thus, shichimau, or shichau, becomes shitemau. Furthermore, as the verb shimau is affected by the same sound changes as in other verbs ending in -u, the past tense of this form is rendered as -temōta or -temota rather than -chimatta or -chatta: wasurechimatta, or wasurechatta ("I forgot "), in Tokyo is wasuretemōta or wasuretemota in Kansai.

The long vowel of the volitional form is often shortened; for example, tsukaō (the volitional form of tsukau) becomes tsukao, tabeyō (the volitional form of taberu) becomes tabeyo. The irregular verb suru has special volitinal form shō instead of shiyō, and the volitinal form of another irregular verb kuru is sometimes replaced with kō.

The causative verb ending -(sa)seru is usually replaced with -(sa)su in Kansai-ben; for example, saseru (causative form of suru) changes sasu, iwaseru (causative form of iu) changes iwasu. Te form -(sa)sete and perfective form -(sa)seta often change to -(sa)shite and -(sa)shita. Transformations of -(sa)shite and -(sa)shita also appear in transitive ichidan verbs such as miseru ("to show"), e.g. misete for mishite.

Kansai-ben also uses the potential verb endings -eru for godan and -(ra)reru for ichidan, and their negative forms are -en/ehen and -(ra)ren/(ra)rehen instead of standard -enai and -(ra)renai. However, mainly in Osaka, there is a strong tendency towards treating all potential forms of verbs the same -(r)arehen, whether ichidan or godan. This is because -ehen overlaps with Osakan negative conjugation. In western Japanese including Kansai-ben, a combination of yō and -n negative form is used as a negative form of the parsonal impossibility.

In standard Japanese, The verb iru is used for reference to the existence of an animate object, and iru is replaced with oru in humble language and some written language. In western Japanese, oru is used not only in humble language but also in all other situations instead of iru. Kansai dialect belongs to western Japanese, but iru and its variation, iteru, are used in Osaka, Kyoto, Shiga, and so on. People in these areas consider oru a somewhat lower or masculine word and sometimes avoid using it for elders (exception: respectful expression orareru, oru + respectful auxiliary verb -(r)areru and humble expression orimasu, oru + -masu). In parts of Wakayama, iru is replaced with aru, which is used for inanimate objects in most other dialects.