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  1. Grammar
  2. /Japanese Grammar
  3. /Verb Classes
  4. /Ichidan (一段) Verbs & the -る Drop

Ichidan (一段) Verbs & the -る Drop

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/:

VerbReadingVowel before るMeaning
食べるtaberueto eat
教えるoshierueto teach
寝るnerueto sleep
見るmiruito see, to watch
起きるokiruito get up
着るkiruito 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.

Related Topics

  • Godan (五段) VerbsN5 — The largest verb class, whose stem ends in a consonant and whose final kana shifts across all five vowel rows.
  • Telling Ichidan from GodanN4 — A reliable diagnostic for the one tricky classification problem in Japanese: verbs ending in -る.
  • The ます Polite FormN5 — How 〜ます turns a verb into its polite non-past form — the register-neutral default you use with strangers — without changing the verb's meaning at all.
← PreviousGodan (五段) VerbsNext →Telling Ichidan from Godan