Advanced Japanese Verb Forms
Once the basic conjugations feel comfortable, these forms let you say much more: what you can do, what you should do, what was done to you, and what you make others do. The potential, passive, causative, volitional, and imperative forms live here.
11 grammar points
Potential Form | How to Say 'Can Do' in Japanese
Ability/possibility — 'can do ~', 'able to ~'
Volitional Form | Let's Do ~ in Japanese (Casual)
Casual suggestion/intention — 'let's ~', 'I'll ~', 'shall we ~?'
Imperative Form | Giving Commands
Direct command — 'Do it!', 'Go!'
Negative Imperative | Saying 'Don't!'
Negative command — 'Don't do ~!'
Passive Form | Japanese Passive Voice
Something is done to the subject — 'was done', 'got ~ed'
Causative Form | Make or Let Someone Do
Make/let someone do something — 'make ~', 'let ~'
Causative-Passive | 'Was Made to Do'
Was forced/made to do something — 'was made to ~'
なさい Form | Polite Commands
Polite but firm command — 'Do ~' (parent/teacher tone)
Listing Actions | ～たり～たりする
Do things like ~ and ~ (non-exhaustive list of actions)
ことがある | Past Experience in Japanese
Have done ~ before, have the experience of ~
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs in Japanese
Verbs that take objects (transitive) vs state-change verbs (intransitive)
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