Japanese Verbs for Beginners: Masu Form, Dictionary Form and Te Form

JLRC - Content Team 2026/10/27

Japanese verbs are an essential part of learning Japanese, but many beginners find verb conjugation confusing.

For example, the verb "to eat" can appear as:

食べる (taberu) — dictionary form
食べます (tabemasu) — masu form
食べて (tabete) — te form

All three come from the same verb, but they are used in different situations and sentence patterns.

The same is true for verbs such as 行く (iku), 見る (miru), and 話す (hanasu).

Understanding these forms is an important step toward building Japanese sentences, improving conversation, and preparing for JLPT N5 and N4.

In this guide, you will learn the three basic Japanese verb groups, how masu form, dictionary form, and te form work, and how to use them in practical sentences.

If you are still learning how Japanese sentences are structured, you may first read JLRC's JLPT N5 Grammar Guide: Japanese Grammar vs English.

School Selection Guide

Why Japanese Verb Forms Are Important
The Three Basic Japanese Verb Forms
1. Dictionary Form: The Basic Form of Japanese Verbs
2. Masu Form: Polite Japanese Verbs
3. Te Form: One of the Most Useful Japanese Verb Forms
Japanese Verb Groups: Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3
How to Change Japanese Verbs into Te Form
How the Three Verb Forms Work in Real Sentences
Common Mistakes Beginners Make with Japanese Verb Forms
From JLPT N5 to N4: Why Verb Forms Matter
How to Practice Japanese Verb Conjugation Effectively
Why Structured Lessons Help Beginners Learn Japanese Verbs
Build a Strong Foundation in Japanese Verb Forms
FAQ

Why Japanese Verb Forms Are Important

In English, verbs change depending on tense, subject, or grammatical structure.

For example:

eat
eats
eating
ate

Japanese verbs also change, but they follow a different system.

Japanese verb conjugation helps express politeness, tense, requests, ongoing actions, and connections between sentences.

For example:

毎日、日本語を勉強します。
Mainichi, nihongo o benkyou shimasu.
I study Japanese every day.

日本語を勉強することは楽しいです。
Nihongo o benkyou suru koto wa tanoshii desu.
Studying Japanese is enjoyable.

日本語を勉強してください。
Nihongo o benkyou shite kudasai.
Please study Japanese.

The basic verb is 勉強する (benkyou suru), but its form changes depending on how the sentence is constructed.

Once you understand these changes, many Japanese grammar patterns become easier to learn.

The Three Basic Japanese Verb Forms

Before studying conjugation rules, let's compare the three forms.

Verb Meaning	Dictionary Form	Masu Form	Te Form
Eat	食べる (taberu)	食べます (tabemasu)	食べて (tabete)
Go	行く (iku)	行きます (ikimasu)	行って (itte)
See / Watch	見る (miru)	見ます (mimasu)	見て (mite)
Write	書く (kaku)	書きます (kakimasu)	書いて (kaite)
Speak	話す (hanasu)	話します (hanashimasu)	話して (hanashite)
Do	する (suru)	します (shimasu)	して (shite)
Come	来る (kuru)	来ます (kimasu)	来て (kite)

These forms serve different purposes.

Dictionary form is the basic form used in dictionaries and many grammar patterns.

Masu form is the polite form commonly used in everyday conversation.

Te form connects to other expressions and is used for requests, ongoing actions, and many important sentence patterns.

One important point: the te form by itself does not indicate a specific tense. Its meaning depends on the construction in which it appears.

1. Dictionary Form: The Basic Form of Japanese Verbs

The dictionary form is the form you normally find when looking up a Japanese verb.

Examples include:

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
食べる	taberu	eat
飲む	nomu	drink
行く	iku	go
読む	yomu	read
書く	kaku	write
見る	miru	see / watch
話す	hanasu	speak

Dictionary form is also used in plain or casual Japanese sentences.

Example 1

毎朝、コーヒーを飲む。
Maiasa, koohii o nomu.
I drink coffee every morning.

Example 2

週末は日本語を勉強する。
Shuumatsu wa nihongo o benkyou suru.
I study Japanese on weekends.

Dictionary form is important because many grammar patterns use it as a starting point.

For example:

日本に行く予定です。
Nihon ni iku yotei desu.
I plan to go to Japan.

Here, 行く (iku) is used before 予定です (yotei desu) to express a plan.

A common beginner mistake is assuming that dictionary form is used only in casual conversation. In fact, it also appears inside polite sentences when required by the grammar pattern.

2. Masu Form: Polite Japanese Verbs

Masu form is one of the first verb forms beginners learn.

It is commonly used when speaking politely to teachers, unfamiliar people, customers, colleagues, or others in appropriate formal situations.

Examples:

Dictionary Form	Masu Form	Meaning
食べる	食べます	eat
飲む	飲みます	drink
行く	行きます	go
読む	読みます	read
書く	書きます	write
見る	見ます	see / watch
話す	話します	speak

Example 1

毎日、新聞を読みます。
Mainichi, shinbun o yomimasu.
I read the newspaper every day.

Example 2

明日、学校に行きます。
Ashita, gakkou ni ikimasu.
I will go to school tomorrow.

The basic masu form can describe present habits or future actions, depending on the context.

It also changes into other polite forms:

Form	Japanese	Meaning
Polite non-past	食べます	eat / will eat
Polite past	食べました	ate
Polite negative	食べません	do not eat
Polite past negative	食べませんでした	did not eat

Learning masu form helps beginners build polite sentences and understand classroom conversations.

3. Te Form: One of the Most Useful Japanese Verb Forms

Te form is especially important because it is used in many Japanese grammar patterns.

Unlike masu form, te form is not simply a polite way of expressing an action.

It helps connect verbs to other words and expressions.

For example:

ちょっと待ってください。
Chotto matte kudasai.
Please wait a moment.

今、日本語を勉強しています。
Ima, nihongo o benkyou shite imasu.
I am studying Japanese now.

朝ご飯を食べて、学校に行きます。
Asagohan o tabete, gakkou ni ikimasu.
I eat breakfast and then go to school.

In these examples, te form is used for three different purposes:

making a polite request with 〜てください
expressing an ongoing action with 〜ています
connecting actions in a sequence

This flexibility makes te form one of the most valuable verb forms for beginners.

Japanese Verb Groups: Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3

To conjugate Japanese verbs correctly, you need to understand the three main verb groups.

Group 1: Godan Verbs

Group 1 verbs are often called godan verbs or u-verbs.

Examples:

Dictionary Form	Masu Form	Te Form
書く (kaku)	書きます	書いて
読む (yomu)	読みます	読んで
話す (hanasu)	話します	話して
待つ (matsu)	待ちます	待って
買う (kau)	買います	買って

Group 1 verbs change their endings according to specific conjugation rules.

Group 2: Ichidan Verbs

Group 1 verbs are often called ichidan verbs or ru-verbs.

Many Group 2 verbs end in -iru or -eru, although not every verb with these endings belongs to Group 2.

Examples:

Dictionary Form	Masu Form	Te Form
食べる (taberu)	食べます	食べて
見る (miru)	見ます	見て
起きる (okiru)	起きます	起きて
寝る (neru)	寝ます	寝て

For Group 2 verbs, a useful basic rule is to remove the final る and add ます or て.

For example:

食べる → 食べます → 食べて

Group 3: Irregular Verbs

Group 3 includes the two main irregular verbs:

Dictionary Form	Masu Form	Te Form
する (suru)	します	して
来る (kuru)	来ます	来て

Many common expressions also use する, such as:

勉強する — study
仕事する — work
電話する — make a phone call

For example:

勉強する → 勉強します → 勉強して

These forms are important because する is used in many everyday Japanese expressions.

How to Change Japanese Verbs into Te Form

Among the three basic forms, Group 1 te-form conjugation often requires the most practice.

The ending of the dictionary form determines how the verb changes.

Dictionary Ending	Te Form Ending	Example
う・つ・る	って	買う → 買って
む・ぶ・ぬ	んで	読む → 読んで
く	いて	書く → 書いて
ぐ	いで	泳ぐ → 泳いで
す	して	話す → 話して

Important exception:

行く (iku) → 行って (itte)

Although 行く ends in く, it does not follow the usual く → いて pattern.

For Group 2 verbs, remove る and add て:

食べる → 食べて

For Group 3 verbs, remember the irregular forms:

する → して

来る → 来て

Rather than memorizing every verb randomly, learning these rules by group helps students understand the conjugation system more efficiently.

How the Three Verb Forms Work in Real Sentences

Let's compare how the same verb can function in different sentences.

Example 1: 食べる — To Eat

Dictionary Form

毎朝、パンを食べる。
Maiasa, pan o taberu.
I eat bread every morning.

Masu Form

毎朝、パンを食べます。
Maiasa, pan o tabemasu.
I eat bread every morning.

Te Form

パンを食べてから、学校に行きます。
Pan o tabete kara, gakkou ni ikimasu.
After eating bread, I go to school.

Example 2: 行く — To Go

Dictionary Form

明日、図書館に行く。
Ashita, toshokan ni iku.
I will go to the library tomorrow.

Masu Form

明日、図書館に行きます。
Ashita, toshokan ni ikimasu.
I will go to the library tomorrow.

Te Form

図書館に行って、本を借ります。
Toshokan ni itte, hon o karimasu.
I will go to the library and borrow a book.

These examples show that Japanese verb conjugation is not only about changing endings.

The form you choose also determines how the verb can connect to other parts of a sentence.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make with Japanese Verb Forms

Many beginners understand the basic meanings of Japanese verbs but struggle when conjugating them.

Some common mistakes include:

Assuming all verbs ending in る belong to Group 2
For example, 帰る (kaeru) is a Group 1 verb, while 食べる (taberu) is Group 2.
Confusing masu form with dictionary form
食べる and 食べます have the same basic meaning, but their grammatical roles and politeness differ.
Forgetting irregular te-form changes
For example, 行く → 行って, not 行いて.
Assuming te form always means an ongoing action
Te form itself does not mean "doing something now."

You need 〜ています for an ongoing-action construction, and even this construction can express other meanings depending on the verb and context.

The most effective way to avoid these mistakes is to study the rules and practice them repeatedly in real sentences.

From JLPT N5 to N4: Why Verb Forms Matter

Verb conjugation becomes increasingly important as learners move from JLPT N5 to N4.

At N5, students begin learning basic polite forms, common verb groups, and simple sentence patterns.

At N4, they encounter a wider range of expressions that depend on knowing how verbs change.

For example:

Grammar Pattern	Example	Meaning
〜たことがある	日本に行ったことがあります。	Have been to Japan
〜なければならない	勉強しなければなりません。	Must study
〜てもいい	入ってもいいです。	May enter
〜てはいけない	ここで写真を撮ってはいけません。	Must not take photos here

These patterns become much easier to understand when learners are already familiar with verb groups and basic conjugation.

That is why verb forms should be learned as part of a connected grammar system rather than as isolated rules.

Students who want to understand the next stage of Japanese grammar may also read JLRC's JLPT N4 Grammar Guide: Key Patterns You Need After N5.

How to Practice Japanese Verb Conjugation Effectively

To learn Japanese verb forms, beginners should combine rule-based study with practical sentence practice.

A useful approach is to:

Identify the verb group.
Learn the dictionary form and its meaning.
Practice changing it into masu form and te form.
Read and listen to example sentences.
Create your own simple sentences.
Review irregular verbs regularly.

For example, rather than memorizing 書く → 書きます → 書いて only as a list, try using each form in a sentence.

毎日日記を書く。
Mainichi nikki o kaku.
I write a diary every day.

毎日日記を書きます。
Mainichi nikki o kakimasu.
I write a diary every day.

ここに名前を書いてください。
Koko ni namae o kaite kudasai.
Please write your name here.

This helps learners connect conjugation rules with real communication.

Why Structured Lessons Help Beginners Learn Japanese Verbs

Japanese verb conjugation becomes easier when it is taught in a clear sequence.

For complete beginners, learning too many verb forms at once can feel overwhelming. A structured learning approach allows students to first understand basic sentences, then verb groups, and finally how different conjugations are used in more complex grammar.

At JLRC, Japanese lessons are organized from beginner to advanced JLPT levels, helping learners connect vocabulary, grammar, reading, listening, and practical expressions.

Instead of relying on random memorization, students can build each new grammar concept on what they have already learned.

Students who want to start or continue Japanese study can explore JLRC's Japanese language courses from N5 to N1.

You can also learn more about JLRC's approach to Japanese language education in the Philippines.

The goal is to help learners understand Japanese more systematically and make steady progress with less wasted time and effort.

Build a Strong Foundation in Japanese Verb Forms

Masu form, dictionary form, and te form are essential building blocks of Japanese grammar.

Once learners understand how these forms work, they can begin creating more natural sentences, making polite requests, connecting actions, and understanding more advanced grammar patterns.

The key is to learn the rules, understand the differences, and practice them in context.

For students preparing for JLPT N5 or moving toward N4, a strong understanding of Japanese verb conjugation can make the next stage of learning much easier.

JLRC offers structured Japanese courses for learners who want to build this foundation with organized lessons and guided practice.

FAQ

What are the three basic Japanese verb forms?

Three important forms for beginners are dictionary form, masu form, and te form. Dictionary form is the basic form, masu form is polite, and te form is used in many sentence patterns, including requests and connected actions.

What is the difference between masu form and dictionary form?

Dictionary form is used in dictionaries, plain-style sentences, and certain grammar constructions. Masu form is used to speak politely.

For example, 食べる and 食べます both mean "eat," but differ in style and grammatical usage.

How do you change a Japanese verb into te form?

The rules depend on the verb group. For example, 食べる → 食べて, 書く → 書いて, and 読む → 読んで. Some verbs have irregular changes, such as 行く → 行って.