Page 166 - Basic Japanese

The ZERO ending is an ending that has no shape at all.

Notice that multiple verbs might have exactly the same
form, for example, the gerund forms of katsu ‘wins’ and kau

‘buys’ in the above table are both katte. Often the pitch
accents are different in such cases, but you can always

distinguish them by the context in which each is used.

4.4. Learning the forms

Now, how should one go about learning these inflectional
forms? You have read a description of how they are put
together, and that may be of some help to you. But in order

to be able to make up the forms for a new verb you hear,
you will want to compare it with a verb you already know

and make its forms by analogy, using the old verb for a
model. You can take the verbs used in the lists here for your

models. Learn their forms well, and then make forms for
other verbs on their patterns.

When you come across a new verb, the first thing you
want to know is: is it a consonant verb or a vowel verb?

Unless the verb ends in -eru or -iru in the imperfect, there is
no doubt about it, but if the verb does end in -eru or -iru, you

don’t know whether it is a consonant verb or a vowel verb
until you check one of the other forms, such as the infinitive

or the perfect.
In this book we will show two imperfect forms, plain and

polite, in the Basic Vocabulary section, so that you can
clearly tell whether any of the -eru and -iru verbs are

consonant verbs or vowel verbs: if you get the same form
after removing -ru and -masu, the verb is a vowel verb. For

example, take taberu and tabemasu ‘eats,’ and remove -ru and

-masu from taberu and tabemasu, respectively. You get exactly