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.
27 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)
あげる・くれる・もらう | Giving and Receiving in Japanese
Give and receive — direction decides the verb
なければならない | Must and Have To in Japanese
Must ~, have to ~
ようになる | Coming to Be Able To
Come to ~, reach the point of ~
ようにする | Making an Effort To
Try to ~, make sure to ~, make a point of ~
ことにする | Deciding to Do Something
Decide to ~
ことになる | It Has Been Decided That
It has been decided that ~, it turns out that ~
ところだ | About To, In the Middle Of, Just Did
About to ~ / in the middle of ~ / just ~
たばかり | Just Did Something
Have just ~ (as the speaker feels it)
はじめる・おわる・つづける | Start, Finish, Continue
Start doing / finish doing / keep doing
必要がある | It Is Necessary To
Need to ~, it is necessary to ~
尊敬語 | Honorific Japanese
Raising the other person's actions
謙譲語 | Humble Japanese
Lowering your own actions
ございます | The Most Polite 'To Be'
Polite forms of ある and です
ようとする | Try To and About To in Japanese
Try to; attempt to; be about to
ように見える | Looks Like and Appears To in Japanese
Looks like; appears to be; seems (visually)
てごらん | Try Doing It, Gently in Japanese
Try doing; go on, have a go
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