Ichidan (一段) Verbs & the -る Drop | Japanese Grammar

If godan verbs are the sprawling, five-rowed majority, ichidan verbs are the small, well-behaved minority — and they are the easiest thing to conjugate in the entire language. Textbooks often call them "Group 2" or "-ru verbs." Learn the one move on this page and you can conjugate every ichidan verb flawlessly, forever, without memorizing a single sound-change rule.

What makes a verb ichidan

An ichidan verb's dictionary form always ends in -る, and the vowel right before that る is always /e/ or /i/:

Verb	Reading	Vowel before る	Meaning
食べる	taberu	e	to eat
教える	oshieru	e	to teach
寝る	neru	e	to sleep
見る	miru	i	to see, to watch
起きる	okiru	i	to get up
着る	kiru	i	to wear

The name 一段（いちだん）means "one row." Where a godan verb's stem walks across five vowel rows, an ichidan verb's stem never moves at all — it sits on a single row (the /e/ or /i/ row) and stays there. That is the whole difference, and it is why ichidan verbs are so easy.

The one move: drop る, attach the ending

To conjugate an ichidan verb, chop off the final る and attach the ending directly to what remains. There is no vowel shift, no consonant to worry about — just glue the ending on.

食べる → 食べ → 食べます / 食べない / 食べた

Form	食べる (to eat)	見る (to see)	起きる (to get up)
Dictionary	食べる	見る	起きる
Polite (〜ます)	食べます	見ます	起きます
Negative (〜ない)	食べない	見ない	起きない
Past (〜た)	食べた	見た	起きた
Te-form (〜て)	食べて	見て	起きて

Compare this table with a godan verb and the contrast is stark. To make the past tense of the godan verb 飲む you have to know a euphonic sound-change (飲む → 飲んだ, not ×飲みた). To make the past tense of the ichidan verb 食べる you drop る and add た: 食べた. Done. No exceptions.

お寿司は週に一回は食べます。

osushi wa shū ni ikkai wa tabemasu

I eat sushi at least once a week.

最近テレビを全然見ない。

saikin terebi o zenzen minai

Lately I don't watch TV at all.

今朝は六時に起きた。

kesa wa rokuji ni okita

I got up at six this morning.

Why ichidan verbs never surprise you

Here is the deep reason ichidan is worth celebrating. Because the stem is stable — you only ever drop る — an ichidan verb never triggers the euphonic sound-changes that make godan te-forms and past tenses a memory chore. There is no "does む become んだ or いだ?" question. There is no 買う → 買った contraction to learn. The stem you see is the stem you use.

妹に自転車の乗り方を教える。

imōto ni jitensha no norikata o oshieru

I'm going to teach my little sister how to ride a bike.

子どもたちはいつも八時に寝ます。

kodomo-tachi wa itsumo hachiji ni nemasu

The kids always go to bed at eight.

💡

Once you have identified a verb as ichidan, you are done thinking. Every form — polite, negative, past, te-form, potential, volitional — comes from the same bare stem. The only hard part of ichidan verbs is confirming that a -る verb really is one, which is the next page's job.

The catch: not every -eる/-iる verb is ichidan

The vowel test — "-る after /e/ or /i/" — is a strong hint, but it is not a guarantee. A stubborn handful of verbs look exactly like ichidan verbs (a /e/ or /i/ vowel, then る) yet conjugate as godan. The two you will meet first are:

帰る (kaeru, "to go home") — looks ichidan, is godan
要る (iru, "to need") — looks ichidan, is godan

Because they are godan, they keep the る and slide across the rows: 帰ります, 帰らない — never ×帰ます. Contrast this with the genuinely ichidan 着る (kiru, "to wear"), which does drop る: 着ます, 着ない.

そろそろ帰ります。

sorosoro kaerimasu

I'll be heading home soon. (帰る is godan → keeps る)

寒いのでコートを着ます。

samui node kōto o kimasu

It's cold, so I'll wear a coat. (着る is ichidan → drops る)

The full list of these look-alike exceptions, plus a foolproof test for when you're unsure, is on Telling ichidan from godan.

💡

Meet the most useful ichidan verb of all: いる ("to be / to exist," for people and animals). It's a model ichidan verb — drop る and you get います, いない, いた. Don't confuse it with the godan look-alike 要る (iru, "to need"), which sounds identical but keeps its る: 要ります, 要らない. Same sound, opposite class.

Common mistakes

❌ 食べります

Incorrect — treating ichidan 食べる like a godan -る verb.

✅ 食べます

tabemasu

I eat. (ichidan: just drop る, add ます)

❌ 見らない

Incorrect — 見る is ichidan; there is no あ-row insertion.

✅ 見ない

minai

I don't watch (it). (ichidan negative = bare stem 見 + ない)

❌ 起きった

Incorrect — over-applying the godan っ sound-change to an ichidan verb.

✅ 起きた

okita

I got up. (ichidan past = bare stem 起き + た, no っ)

❌ 帰ます

Incorrect — 帰る looks ichidan but is godan, so it can't drop る.

✅ 帰ります

kaerimasu

I'm going home. (godan: slide to 帰り + ます)

Notice that the first three errors come from over-applying the godan pattern to an ichidan verb, and the last comes from under-applying it to a look-alike. Both directions are fixed by correctly classifying the verb first.

Key takeaways

Ichidan (一段) = "one row." The stem never changes; you always just drop the final る.
The dictionary form ends in -る after an /e/ or /i/ vowel: 食べる, 見る, 起きる, 教える.
Conjugate by dropping る and attaching the ending: 食べ + ます / ない / た / て.
Ichidan verbs never cause euphonic sound-changes — no exceptions to memorize.
The vowel test is a strong hint but not a rule: 帰る and 要る look ichidan yet are godan. Learn to tell them apart on the next page.

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