Lesson 70 - Informal verbs

Throughout the lessons, you have learned the polite level of speaking. However, now it is time to finally learn the informal way of speaking. They are not that different from the polite form. Let's take the verb ikimasu and look at it in its simple forms.

Simple present/future- iku
Simple negative- ikanai
Simple past- itta
Simple past negative- ikanakatta

To change ikimasu to iku, you merely drop the -masu ending and change ki to ku. To show more examples, tsukurimasu would turn into tsukuru and kaimasu would turn into kau.

To go from ikimasen to ikanai, you have to look back to iku. Change ku to ka and add nai to the end. To use the two examples from before, tsukurimasen would become tsukuranai and kaimasen would be kawanai.

To get itta from ikimashita, simply look at the te form of ikimasu, which is itte. Simple change the e at the end to an a to get the simple past. Tsukurimashita would become tsukutta and kaimashita would become katta.

Lastly, to get ikanakatta from ikimasen deshita, you would refer back to ikanai and merely change the nai to nakatta, just as if it were an adjective ending. So tsukurimasen deshita would be tsukuranakatta and kaimasen deshita would turn into kawanakatta. However, not all verbs are treated like ikimasu, because there are actually three different types of Japanese verbs. Ikimasu would fall into type 1, but a verb like demasu, mimasu, or nemasu would fall into type 2. That is because when these verbs are put into their simple forms, they are different. Let's look at these verbs and put them in the four endings.

Simple present/future- deru, miru, neru
Simple negative- denai, minai, nenai
Simple past- deta, mita, neta
Simple past negative- denakatta, minakatta, nenakatta

As you can see, the type 2 verbs are a lot easier, because in order to get the base, you justy drop the -masu and add the endings and you don't have to convert it into anything special.

The last type of verbs are the irregular verbs, and they are shimasu and kimasu. Let's find out just why by looking at their various endings.
Simple present/future- suru, kuru
Simple negative- shinai, kinai
Simple past- shita, kita
Simpe past negative- shinakatta, kinakatta

The only thing that is so irregular about them is their simple form-- suru and kuru, because they have to change completely for the endings. But if you were to compare them to the two other types, they are treated more like type 2 verbs than type 1. Instead of launching into a conversation, I'm going to give you a chart to help you convert verbs from their simple present to all the other forms of it. You should keep it for future reference until you get comfortable with the conversions. Usually, the informal way of speaking is not recommended when you are visiting the country, unless you are talking to a close friend. Strangers would find that disrespectful. Speaking the polite way is the way to go for now.