Conjugation
Consonant-stem verbs conjugate differently from the vowel-stem verbs. Consonant-stem verbs conjugate after a consonant, and vowel-stem verbs conjugate after a vowel, as can be seen in the following examples:
| consonant-stem | vowel-stem | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain form | yom.u ("read") 読む |
hashir.u ("run") 走る |
mi.ru ("see") 見る |
tabe.ru ("eat") 食べる |
| Negative | yom.anai 読まない |
hashir.anai 走らない |
mi.nai 見ない |
tabe.nai 食べない |
| Polite form | yom.imasu 読みます |
hashir.imasu 走ります |
mi.masu 見ます |
tabe.masu 食べます |
Please see Japanese verb conjugations for all the verb forms. See also Japanese grammar: Verbs.
Consonant-stem verbs ending in -u (-au, -iu and -ou) may not appear to conjugate "after a consonant"; for example, the polite form of kau (買う, "buy") is kaimasu (ka.u → ka.imasu). However, the stem is in these cases technically considered to end in the consonant w. The w is normally suppressed, but surfaces in the negative form, as in kaw.anai ("does not buy"). Traditionally these verbs ended in -hu, which is still seen on occasion in historical kana usage, and thus unambiguously ended in h.
Read more about this topic: Japanese Consonant And Vowel Verbs