Talking to friends in Japanese: plain verb forms

Level A2

Talking to friends in Japanese: plain verb forms

Two close friends chatting will usually say 行く (iku) rather than 行きます (ikimasu). In this lesson you learn the plain forms of three verbs you know, 食べる, 飲む and 行く, and their negatives, 食べない, 飲まない and 行かない. One idea carries the whole lesson: with someone close, the same sentence ends in a plain form instead of ます or ません. You choose by who you're talking to, not by what you mean, so you'll also see who these forms are not for.

Quick review: ます and ません

Here's what you'll build on, even if it's your first time seeing it. 食べます (tabemasu) is “eat”, 飲みます (nomimasu) “drink” and 行きます (ikimasu) “go”. Swap ます for ません and the verb turns negative: 飲みません (nomimasen), 行きません (ikimasen). The thing comes before the verb, marked by を (o): パンを食べます (pan o tabemasu), “I eat bread”. に (ni) marks where you're going: 駅に行きます (eki ni ikimasu), “I'm going to the station”. 明日は行きません (ashita wa ikimasen) is “I'm not going tomorrow”. か (ka) at the end makes a question: コーヒーを飲みますか (kōhī o nomimasu ka), “Do you drink coffee?”. The answer starts with はい (hai), “yes”, or いいえ (iie), “no”.

All of these are polite, right for a teacher, a shop assistant or someone you've just met. Now see what changes between friends.

Model: two friends

Listen once without reading. A and B are close friends. No verb ends in ます, the questions have no か, and “yes” and “no” are うん (un) and ううん (uun). Some small words go too: in 今日、 (kyō, today) and コーヒー、 (kōhī, coffee) a short pause takes the place of は and を. カフェ (kafe) is a café, 水 (mizu) is water and パン (pan) is bread.

Plain forms: 食べる, 飲む, 行く

The plain form of these verbs is the dictionary form, the one you see on their word cards: 食べる (taberu), 飲む (nomu), 行く (iku). Compare パンを食べます with パンを食べる (pan o taberu): same words, same meaning, a different ending. English has nothing like this, since “I eat bread” doesn't change with the listener. Plain forms aren't slang or sloppy Japanese; in conversation, at the end of a sentence, they're the form for people close to you.

They cover what ます covers: 行く can be “I go”, “I'm going” or “I'll go”, and context decides, as with 行きます. And like ます, they don't show who does the action: 食べる can be “I eat”, “you eat” or “she eats”.

…を／…に／…は食(た)べる／飲(の)む／行(い)く

Plain negatives: 食べない, 飲まない, 行かない

ません gives way to ない (nai): 食べない (tabenai), 飲まない (nomanai), 行かない (ikanai). Here the three verbs split in two. 食べる drops る and takes ない. 飲む and 行く first change their last sound to its “a” version, む to ま and く to か, and then take ない. That's why it's 飲まない, not 飲むない or 飲みない.

A verb's ending doesn't always tell you which way it goes: some verbs ending in る change like 飲む. So learn each verb's two forms together. The lesson “Japanese verb groups and forms” has the full picture.

The rest of the sentence stays as it was: 明日は行きません becomes 明日は行かない (ashita wa ikanai), “I'm not going tomorrow”, and 今日 (kyō) is “today”.

…を／…に／…は食べない／飲まない／行かない

The forms side by side

Read each row from left to right, with the readings in brackets. Each polite column sits next to its plain partner: that's the only swap you need. This table is for reference, and you've already heard all the plain forms in the sentences above.

PolitePlainPolite negativePlain negative
食べます（たべます）食(た)べる（たべる）食べません（たべません）食べない（たべない）
飲みます（のみます）飲(の)む（のむ）飲みません（のみません）飲まない（のまない）
行きます（いきます）行(い)く（いく）行きません（いきません）行かない（いかない）

Same question, two listeners

To a teacher, you'd say コーヒーを飲みますか (kōhī o nomimasu ka); to a friend, コーヒー、飲む？ (kōhī, nomu?). With a plain form the question usually drops か and your voice rises at the end; in writing, ？ shows it. はい (hai) becomes うん (un), いいえ (iie) becomes ううん (uun), and friends often drop を, though keeping it is still correct.

In conversation, at the end of a sentence, save plain forms for friends, family and others close to you; with a teacher, a shop assistant or a stranger, stay with ます: 駅に行く？ said to someone you've just met sounds too familiar. If you aren't sure, ます is the safe choice, and you can switch once the other person does.

One to recognize, not to use yet: コーヒー、飲まない？ (kōhī, nomanai?), with a rising voice, is often an invitation, “Want a coffee?”, the friends' version of コーヒーを飲みませんか, not a question about your habits.

Your turn, and a summary

You run into a friend, and then your teacher. Cover the lines below. Ask your friend whether they're going to the café tomorrow, and give their “no”. Then your teacher asks whether you drink coffee: say no politely. Check only afterwards.

In short: with someone close, ます becomes the dictionary form, ません becomes the ない form (飲まない, not 飲みない) and か usually drops. When in doubt, stay with ます.

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