Japanese Verb Tense Cheat Sheet

Even though Japanese has relatively few verb tenses and forms compared to many languages, there are still quite a lot of variations – all of which take time to learn and internalize.

That’s where a cheat sheet can help! Something like this…

This Japanese Verb Tense Cheat Sheet summarizes everything you need to know to understand:

• how Japanese verbs are conjugated
• the most useful and important verb tenses and forms, and
• when to use each tense/form.

There are two versions – one with hiragana, one with romaji – and both are free!

Here’s a quick breakdown of the sections of the cheat sheet:

Verb Structure & Types

Explains Verb Structure (Stem + Ending) for each type of verbs – Ru-Verbs, U-Verbs, and Irregular Verbs.

Verb Tense/Form Selection and Usage

Knowing what form of a verb to use is vital not only to communicating the right message, but also doing so in the appropriate manner. This section of the cheat sheet includes two parts:

How to choose the appropriate level of politeness

There are two main levels of politeness that most Japanese language learners need to know – informal and polite. This section briefly explains when you should use the polite form, and when you should use the informal form.

How to choose the appropriate verb tense/form

This lists the most useful verb forms and explains when you should use each one.

Polite and Informal Verb Tenses & Forms

This includes a side-by-side summary of how to form each of the main verb tenses and forms, for both polite and informal Japanese. Tenses/forms include:

• Present/future tense
• Past tense
• Negative present/future
• Negative past
• “Let’s” form
• “I want to…” form
• Potential (can do) form
• Te-form

That’s It!

Needless to say, this cheat sheet has a truckload of information. It covers all the verb tenses and forms that most people would encounter in their first several years of studying Japanese – and all on a single page.