An introduction to Japanese - Syntax, Grammar & Language

62 CHAPTER 2. VERB GRAMMAR

for its stem changes for each base. However, unlike there is only one
pronunciation for each base, so inflection doesn’t involve ”picking the right
pronunciation”, but merely remembering it:

base kanji form pronunciation

affirmative negative

plain + :

As is evident from the table of bases, and the table of inflections, this
verb is virtually indistinguishable from any other verb. However, in
spoken language its irregularity is plainly obvious.

The irregular verb

Finally, the verb , ”exist” (for inanimate things) has seemingly normal
bases, but its inflection is quite special:

base form

affirmative negative

plain

This verb is actually irregular in all its negative forms: rather than
using the + rules, just itself is used. Thus, we see the fol-