Group 1 Verbs (た-Form)
“Ideals are like stars’ you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them, you reach your destiny.” - Carl Schurz
If you remember from way back when, Group 1 verbs are the verbs that tended to end with an い sound before the ます (like いきます、のみます、たのみます, etc). But, if you know your dictionary form verbs pretty well, there’s now another way to figure out if you have a Group 1 verb.
Although this “rule” isn’t perfect because there are exceptions (there always are, after all), it generally works out pretty well.
If your dictionary form verb ends with a る, it’s probably Group 2
If it ends with anything else (and it’s not an exception verb) it’s Group 1
If you remember back to the Group 2 Lesson Page, Group 2 Verbs are stem+る (たべる, つける, やける). Since we’re using dictionary form verbs, it’s probably going to be easier to tell the Groups apart – just make sure you remember which group is which!
On this page, we’re looking at Group 1 Verbs, though, and how they change to past tense た-form. There are, unfortunately, several rules to learn within Group 1 verbs. It all depends on what the last kana is in the verb. You’ll probably want to get your note-taking doodad out at this point and time…
う → った
かう→かった
あらう→あらった
つ → った
まつ→まった
もつ→もった
る → った
きる→きった
＊Note that this is one of those る Group 1 Verbs (most る ending dictionary form verbs are Group 2)
く → いた
あるく→あるいた
かく→かいた
＊EXCEPTION – いく does not become いいた. いく (to go) becomes いった!＊
ぐ → いだ
いそぐ→いそいだ
およぐ→およいだ
む → んだ
のむ→のんだ
ぶ → んだ
あそぶ→あそんだ
とぶ→とんだ
ぬ → んだ
しぬ→しんだ
す → した
はなす→はなした
なおす→なおした
That’s a super long list of rules (sorry!), but we can compress it down a little bit to make it a bit simpler.
うつる → った
く → いた
ぐ → いだ (just the previous rule with a dakuten!)
むぶぬ → んだ
す → した
Let’s try to remember it another way – I don’t think you’ll instantly remember all of them just by reading through these mnemonics, but I think you’ll remember some of them, which is better than none (memorizing things is so boo boo berries).
The word 写る (うつる) means “to be photographed). It also happens to be the first three た-form rules. What sound do you make when you click the clicker on a camera? Why, a った sound!
く and ぐ are pretty much the same. You can get away with just remembering the く rule because ぐ is the same with a dakuten mark. When you think “く” think of く as a person or animal named く. Kublai Khan (the super famous Mongol) would be a good one to think. Then, when you see him (in your mind) say “いた!!” (there he is!!). く→いた.
むぶぬ is a bit tougher. むぶ sounds like the word “move” ぬ is like “new” – so it’s like you’re saying “move new” (as in, move to a new place). So, when you say “move new” (むぶぬ ) you can respond with “んだ”?? (and??). And what? I don’t know, but if you make it awkward enough in your head (imagine the situation!) then you’ll surely remember the “むぶぬ？んだ” conversation.
す is somewhat easy because it’s almost する (which you remember is an exception). Take す and think する. You’ll learn in a bit that する→した in the exceptions page, so this will come a little more clearly later on.
Try to go through these mnemonics once in your head if you can – they should help you get pretty close to memorizing all the rules pretty quickly, though it’s understandable if you take a while to pull these rules out of your mind. It’ll get faster and easier though, because you’re about to practice using this worksheet!
Group 1 た-Form Verbs Conversion Practice
After you’ve finished that, you can move on to Group 2 Verbs! Don’t worry, Group 2 is literally a bajillion times easier than Group 1. You’re like 90% of the way there by finishing this page.