This is the full reference paradigm for a godan verb ending in -く, built on 書く（かく, "to write"）. The whole paradigm is textbook-regular — the stem consonant k stays put and the final kana walks the rows (書か・書き・書く・書け・書こ) — with exactly one cell that needs a rule: the te-form and past take the い-音便（イおんびん）, softening く to a vowel い. That gives 書いて／書いた. And there is one verb in the entire language that looks like it belongs here but breaks the rule: 行く.
The stem walks the k-column
書く sits on the k-column. Conjugation never touches the k; it only re-vowels it:
- あ-row → 書か (ka) — negative, causative, passive
- い-row → 書き (ki) — polite ます-stem
- う-row → 書く (ku) — dictionary
- え-row → 書け (ke) — potential, conditional, imperative
- お-row → 書こ (ko) — volitional
毎日、日記を書く。
mainichi, nikki o kaku
I write in my diary every day.
漢字がまだうまく書けない。
kanji ga mada umaku kakenai
I still can't write kanji well.
The full paradigm — 書く
| Form | 書く (to write) | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Dictionary (plain non-past) | 書く | kaku |
| Polite 〜ます | 書きます | kakimasu |
| Plain negative 〜ない | 書かない | kakanai |
| Polite negative 〜ません | 書きません | kakimasen |
| Plain past 〜た | 書いた | kaita |
| Plain past-negative 〜なかった | 書かなかった | kakanakatta |
| Te-form 〜て | 書いて | kaite |
| Potential (can) | 書ける | kakeru |
| Passive (受身) | 書かれる | kakareru |
| Causative (使役) | 書かせる | kakaseru |
| Causative-passive | 書かせられる ／ 書かされる | kakaserareru / kakasareru |
| Volitional 〜こう | 書こう | kakō |
| Conditional 〜ば | 書けば | kakeba |
| Conditional 〜たら | 書いたら | kaitara |
| Imperative (plain command) | 書け | kake |
| Prohibitive (negative command) | 書くな | kaku na |
Notice that only the て/た/たら cells are irregular-looking (書いて, 書いた, 書いたら). Every other form is a clean walk across the k-column. The rest of this page is really about that one softening.
ここにお名前とご住所を書いてください。
koko ni o-namae to go-jūsho o kaite kudasai
Please write your name and address here.
彼は毎晩ブログの記事を書いている。
kare wa maiban burogu no kiji o kaite iru
He writes a blog post every night.
The te-form: 書く → 書いて (い-音便)
Historically て attached to the ます-stem 書き, giving kaki-te. The hard k dropped out and left just the vowel い: ka-i-te → 書いて. This い-softening (イ音便) applies to every regular -く verb:
書く → 書いて ・ 聞く → 聞いて ・ 歩く → 歩いて ・ 働く → 働いて ・ 置く → 置いて
Because く is unvoiced, the connector stays the plain て (its voiced twin ぐ keeps the voicing: 泳ぐ → 泳いで). The past mirrors the te-form exactly — 書いて ↔ 書いた. For the full group, see Godan く → いて.
そのニュースを聞いて、みんな驚いた。
sono nyūsu o kiite, minna odoroita
Everyone was surprised to hear that news.
駅まで歩いて十五分くらいかかる。
eki made aruite jūgo-fun kurai kakaru
It's about a fifteen-minute walk to the station.
The one exception: 行く → 行って, not ×行いて
行く（いく, "to go"）ends in く and, by every visible sign, should give ×行いて. It does not. 行く takes the doubling っ instead: 行って／行った — behaving like a つ- or る-verb, not a く-verb. This is the single high-frequency irregular in the entire godan te-system, and because "to go" is one of the most common verbs in Japanese, you will produce it constantly. Every other cell of 行く is perfectly regular (行かない, 行きます, 行ける, 行こう); only the て/た break the pattern.
ちょっとコンビニに行ってくる。
chotto konbini ni itte kuru
I'm just going to run to the convenience store.
先週、家族で温泉に行った。
senshū, kazoku de onsen ni itta
Last week I went to a hot spring with my family.
Do not over-correct in the other direction. Only 行く is irregular. Every other -く verb is a well-behaved 書いて-type: 歩く → 歩いて, never ×歩って; 聞く → 聞いて, never ×聞って.
How this differs from English
English "write" changes for tense as a whole word — "write / wrote / written" — but the connective form ("write and…," "listen and…") never reshapes the verb. Japanese instead softens the ending itself to link, and 行く is its "went": a single ultra-common verb that keeps an older, irregular linking form (行って) while every sibling took the regular one (書いて). There is nothing to reconstruct — memorize 行って the way you once memorized "went," and treat the rest of the -く group as fully predictable.
Common mistakes
❌ 名前をここに書きてください。
namae o koko ni kakite kudasai
Incorrect — -く verbs don't stay as the ます-stem; the く softens to い → 書いて.
✅ 名前をここに書いてください。
namae o koko ni kaite kudasai
Please write your name here.
❌ 週末、京都に行いてみたい。
shūmatsu, Kyōto ni iite mitai
Incorrect — 行く is the exception; it takes って, giving 行って.
✅ 週末、京都に行ってみたい。
shūmatsu, Kyōto ni itte mitai
I'd love to go to Kyoto this weekend.
❌ 毎日この道を歩って通う。
mainichi kono michi o arutte kayou
Incorrect — 歩く is a regular く-verb → 歩いて; only 行く takes って.
✅ 毎日この道を歩いて通う。
mainichi kono michi o aruite kayou
I walk to and from work along this road every day.
❌ 手紙を書きない。
tegami o kakinai
Incorrect — the negative uses the あ-row 書か, not the い-row stem.
✅ 手紙を書かない。
tegami o kakanai
I don't write letters.
The two live errors pull in opposite directions: applying the regular いて to 行く (giving ×行いて), and applying 行く's exceptional って to a regular verb (giving ×歩って). Fix both by remembering that the irregularity is one word wide — 行く and nothing else.
Key takeaways
- 書く is the model godan -く verb. The stem consonant k is fixed; the final kana walks the rows.
- Te-form / past = 書いて ／ 書いた (イ音便: く softens to the vowel い; connector stays plain て).
- The voiced twin ぐ keeps the voicing (泳ぐ → 泳いで) — a separate cell, covered on the ぐ paradigm.
- 行く is the lone exception: 行って ／ 行った, not ×行いて — the only high-frequency irregular in the godan te-system.
- Don't over-correct: every other -く verb (歩く, 聞く, 働く…) is perfectly regular いて.
Now practice Japanese
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- 五段 Verbs: Class OverviewN5 — The canonical paradigm reference for the 五段 (godan / Type-1 / consonant-stem) class — the nine dictionary endings and the single mechanism behind every form: sliding the final kana across the あ・い・う・え・お rows.
- te/ta Sound-Change (音便) Master ChartN4 — The definitive euphonic-change reference: every verb ending mapped to its te and た form, with the three 音便 types, the voicing rule, and the single 行く exception.
- 行く: The te-form ExceptionN4 — 行く（いく, to go）is a perfectly regular 五段 -く verb in every cell except one — its te-form and past are the 促音便 forms 行って／行った, never the ×行いて that 書く predicts.