Godan (五段) Verbs | Japanese Grammar

Japanese has only two large verb classes plus two irregular verbs, and godan (五段) is by far the bigger of the two. Most verbs you meet — 書く, 飲む, 話す, 待つ, 買う — are godan. The good news for an English speaker is that the whole class runs on a single, almost mechanical trick, and once you see it you can conjugate a verb you have never met before.

What "godan" actually means

The name 五段（ごだん）means "five rows." It is not a random label — it describes the mechanic. A godan verb has a stem that ends in a consonant, and to conjugate it you keep that consonant fixed and slide its final kana up and down the five-vowel ladder あ・い・う・え・お.

Take 書く（かく, "to write"). The consonant is k. Conjugation never touches the k; it only changes the vowel attached to it:

か (ka) → 書かない (negative)
き (ki) → 書きます (polite)
く (ku) → 書く (dictionary)
け (ke) → 書けば (conditional), 書ける (potential)
こ (ko) → 書こう (volitional)

Five forms, five rows. That is the 五段 in 五段. English verbs have nothing like this — we change tense with endings (walk / walked / walking), but we never systematically re-vowel the last sound of the stem. In Japanese the last sound of a godan stem is a moving part.

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The moment you hear "this verb is godan," you already know it flexes across five rows. The label is a promise: the consonant stays, the vowel walks. The sound-rows page maps every column of that ladder in full.

The dictionary form always ends in an う-row kana

Every godan verb's dictionary form ends in one of these nine kana — all of them are on the う (u) row of the kana chart:

Ending	Consonant column	Example	Meaning
く	k	書く (kaku)	to write
ぐ	g	泳ぐ (oyogu)	to swim
す	s	話す (hanasu)	to speak
つ	t	待つ (matsu)	to wait
ぬ	n	死ぬ (shinu)	to die
ぶ	b	飛ぶ (tobu)	to fly
む	m	飲む (nomu)	to drink
る	r	作る (tsukuru)	to make
う	w/vowel	買う (kau)	to buy

Notice that the whole class is defined by that final う-row kana. When you conjugate, you swap it for another kana in the same column — never a different column. 飲む (m-column) can become 飲ま, 飲み, 飲め, 飲も, but never 飲か or 飲さ. The consonant is locked.

毎晩ビールを一杯だけ飲む。

maiban bīru o ippai dake nomu

I have just one beer every evening.

姉は英語とフランス語を話す。

ane wa eigo to furansugo o hanasu

My older sister speaks English and French.

改札の前で待つね。

kaisatsu no mae de matsu ne

I'll wait in front of the ticket gates, okay?

The stem flexes: 飲む in action

Watch what happens to 飲む（のむ, "to drink") when we build the polite form. The stem consonant is m, so the polite form uses the い-row kana み (mi), then adds ます:

飲む → 飲み → 飲みます

毎朝、薬を飲みます。

maiasa, kusuri o nomimasu

I take my medicine every morning.

That み is the same shift 書く makes to 書き and 話す makes to 話し. Every godan verb builds its polite -ます form from the い-row kana of its column. Build the plain negative instead and you reach for the あ-row: 飲まない, 書かない, 話さない. Same verb, different rung of the ladder.

コーヒーは一日に三杯くらい飲みます。

kōhī wa ichinichi ni sanbai kurai nomimasu

I drink about three cups of coffee a day.

週末に母がよくケーキを作ります。

shūmatsu ni haha ga yoku kēki o tsukurimasu

On weekends my mom often makes a cake.

The -る trap: not every -る verb is ichidan

Here is the single biggest hazard for English speakers, and it is worth stopping on. A large number of godan verbs end in -る: 作る (tsukuru), 分かる (wakaru), ある (aru), 乗る (noru), 帰る (kaeru), 走る (hashiru). Because the other verb class — ichidan — also ends in -る, beginners see る and assume "drop the る." That gives you wrong forms like ×分かます.

A godan -る verb does not drop the る. It treats る exactly like every other godan ending — it lives on the r-column and slides across the rows: 分からない, 分かります, 分かる, 分かれば, 分かろう.

言いたいことは分かるよ。

iitai koto wa wakaru yo

I get what you're trying to say.

毎日この道を通って駅まで走ります。

mainichi kono michi o tōtte eki made hashirimasu

Every day I run to the station along this road.

How do you know whether a -る verb is godan or ichidan? There is a reliable diagnostic, and it gets its own page: Telling ichidan from godan. For now, remember that if the syllable before -る is an a / u / o sound (作る, 乗る, 通る), the verb is always godan.

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ある ("to exist") is godan, but its negative is the irregular ない, not ×あらない. It is the one godan -る verb whose negative breaks the pattern — see ある / ない.

Common mistakes

❌ 分かます

Incorrect — 分かる is a godan -る verb, so you can't drop the る.

✅ 分かります

wakarimasu

I understand. (godan: slide to the い-row 分かり + ます)

❌ 飲みない

Incorrect — the negative needs the あ-row, not the い-row.

✅ 飲まない

nomanai

I don't drink (it). (godan negative = あ-row 飲ま + ない)

❌ 話すます

Incorrect — you can't stack ます onto the dictionary form.

✅ 話します

hanashimasu

I (will) speak. (slide 話す to the い-row 話し first)

❌ 待ちない

Incorrect — 待ち is the polite/い-row stem, wrong base for ない.

✅ 待たない

matanai

I won't wait. (negative = あ-row 待た + ない)

The thread running through all four errors is the same: the learner picked the wrong row. Godan conjugation is never about which ending to bolt on — it is about which vowel the stem should be wearing when you bolt it on.

Key takeaways

Godan (五段) = "five rows." The stem's final kana slides across あ・い・う・え・お while its consonant stays fixed.
The dictionary form always ends in an う-row kana: く, ぐ, す, つ, ぬ, ぶ, む, る, う.
Conjugation swaps that kana for another in the same column — 飲む → 飲ま / 飲み / 飲め / 飲も.
Many godan verbs end in -る (作る, 分かる, 走る) — they are not ichidan and do not drop the る.
The next step is to learn the whole ladder at once on the sound-rows page, then confirm you can tell godan from ichidan.

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