Polite Verb Forms: ます, ません, ました and ませんでした
How to conjugate Japanese verbs in the polite form for present, negative, past and past negative, with the two main verb groups.
Polite Japanese verbs follow a simple pattern. Learn four endings and you can speak about the present and the past.
The four polite forms
| Meaning | Ending | Example: 食べる (taberu, to eat) |
|---|---|---|
| present / future | -ます | 食べます (tabemasu) |
| present negative | -ません | 食べません (tabemasen) |
| past | -ました | 食べました (tabemashita) |
| past negative | -ませんでした | 食べませんでした (tabemasen deshita) |
The present form covers both "I eat" and "I will eat". Context (such as あした, tomorrow) tells you which.
Verb groups
Dictionary-form verbs fall into groups, which determine how to get the -ます stem.
Group 1 (ichidan, "る-verbs")
Drop る and add ます:
| Dictionary | Polite | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 食べる (taberu) | 食べます | eat |
| 見る (miru) | 見ます | see, watch |
| 起きる (okiru) | 起きます | wake up |
| 寝る (neru) | 寝ます | sleep |
Group 2 (godan, "う-verbs")
Change the final -u sound to the -i sound and add ます:
| Dictionary | Polite | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 飲む (nomu) | 飲みます (nomimasu) | drink |
| 行く (iku) | 行きます (ikimasu) | go |
| 書く (kaku) | 書きます (kakimasu) | write |
| 話す (hanasu) | 話します (hanashimasu) | speak |
| 待つ (matsu) | 待ちます (machimasu) | wait |
Irregular verbs
| Dictionary | Polite | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| する (suru) | します | do |
| 来る (kuru) | 来ます (kimasu) | come |
Examples
- 毎日、水を飲みます。 — I drink water every day.
- 昨日、映画を見ました。 — I watched a film yesterday.
- あした、東京へ行きます。 — I'll go to Tokyo tomorrow.
- 朝ご飯を食べませんでした。 — I didn't eat breakfast.
Invitations
- 食べませんか。 — Won't you eat? (Shall we eat?)
- 行きましょう。 — Let's go.
The ending -ましょう means "let's".
Tips
- Learn the four endings first.
- Learn which group each verb belongs to.
- Use the dictionary to check verb forms.
English Japanese Dictionary
Offline English–Japanese dictionary with kanji, hiragana and katakana support
More about English Japanese Dictionary
Building a Basic Japanese Sentence: です and Verb-Final Order
How Japanese sentences are structured, with the verb at the end, how です works, and how to make questions and negatives.
Read article →Japanese Adjectives: い-Adjectives and な-Adjectives
The two types of Japanese adjectives, how each is conjugated for negative and past, and how to use them before nouns.
Read article →Japanese Particles: は, が, を, に, で, と and の
The small words that mark the role of each word in a Japanese sentence, with clear examples for the most important particles.
Read article →Telling the Time in Japanese: 時, 分 and 半
How to say hours and minutes in Japanese, the sound changes in 分, and the words for a.m., p.m., half past and now.
Read article →