Japanese grammar · ≈ JLPT N5 · Beginner 2

普通形futsuu kei

casual plain speech forms

Use 「普通形」 with friends or family; verbs, adjectives, and nouns each change endings for tense and negation.

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How it works

When talking with friends, family, or others you are close to, you often use the plain form for a casual tone.
Look at the right column: plain-form endings vary by word type. You cannot simply remove 「ます」 in every case.
For affirmative verbs in the present, use the dictionary form: 「行きます」 becomes 「行く」, not 「行き」.
Verbs have four plain forms: non-past/past and affirmative/negative. Keep the tense and polarity when changing forms; the past negative changes ない to なかった.
For affirmative い-adjectives in the present, remove 「です」 and keep the final 「い」: いいです→いい.
Plain forms of い-adjectives use neither です nor だ. Ending changes express negation and the past; keep the original tense and polarity when changing forms.
For affirmative noun sentences in the present, replace 「です」 with 「だ」: バイトです→バイトだ.
The stem of a な-adjective stays unchanged; change the sentence ending to make the four plain forms. In conversation, じゃない and じゃなかった are common negative forms.
Nouns and な-adjectives use the same sentence endings. だ, だった, and the negative forms distinguish the four plain forms. The past negative cannot use just じゃない.
Questions in plain style often omit 「か」. Raise your pitch at the end so the listener hears that you are asking a question.
In the example, 「行く？」 and 「食べる？」 ask about today’s plans. The dictionary form can also refer to the future.
In 「これ何？」, the example omits 「だ」 in a noun question. This is a natural way to ask a friend.