Godan verbs that looks like ichidan

Hi guys,

I understand that a verb ending in iru or eru is probably an ichidan verb, but there are some exceptions.
When i come across those exceptions, I mess up every time and it’s slowly starting to get on my nerves😭
I searched for a list of said exceptions to learn them all by heart, but couldn’t find anything.
Anyone knows where i can find that ?

Thanks :wink:

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Tae Kim’s grammar guide has a list of 24 of them.

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There’s this discussion about it on Reddit:

And a list of common ones here:

But honestly, I don’t think there’s a complete list anywhere, and the reason for that might be that native speakers learn this stuff through exposure. If you don’t have too much trouble with memorising the て-forms or the imperative (the really direct order-giving form), it’d probably be easier if you focus on those to memorise them, since these verbs will end in って instead of て (e.g. はいる→はいって) or, for the imperative, れ instead of よ/ろ (e.g. はいる→はいれ). But if doubled consonants/that pause when pronouncing those words don’t stick for you, then I guess you might have to do it another way.

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The most useful piece of information is in that Reddit post.

Anyway, there is one way to tell whether a written word is or is not an exception which isn’t often mentioned. But it only works if the word has at least three kana. 一段 verbs are written with two okurigana for conjugation reasons. For example, 変える and 帰る are both pronounced かえる but the latter is an exception and you can tell since it’s written with only one okurigana. This doesn’t work for verbs like 切る(きる)or しゃべる unfortunately.

Except by the way, it does work for しゃべる because in kanji it’s written 喋る. By following this guideline you don’t have to memorize dozens of exceptions but just a few (i.e. 入る, 帰る, 走る, etc. are no longer exceptions, they just follow this extra rule). And many of the two kana verbs that you can’t use this rule for are among the most common verbs in the language, so you’ll memorize them before you know it (e.g. 知る and 切る).

Really almost any conjugation will work if て from is troublesome. ます form and plain negative are both good ones too. はいって, not はいて. はいります, not はいます. はいらない, not はいない. You’ll also get a better feel for these by listening to (and reading) Japanese media. After a certain point you’d never even consider conjugating はいる like an ichidan verb because it would sound so wrong to your ears. Just takes practice and experience like anything else.

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This. Exactly. Beyond a certain point, some things just feel wrong, because you’re so used to what’s right. That’s how I learnt most of these, honestly. I actively memorise them once or twice, and after that, practice and experience handled everything else.

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Here you go:

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