Sid in Japan

Verbs are another essential part of English grammar. They express actions, states, or occurrences and help form meaningful sentences. This guide will provide an overview of verb types, their uses, and some strategies for teaching them in the Japanese classroom. However, this is not an extensive deep-dive into verbs and how to use them… that would be far to much for a single blog post!

What Are Verbs?

A verb (動詞 – doshi) is a word that describes what a subject does or what happens to it. They change form depending on time (tense), number, and function in a sentence. In Japanese, verbs (often ending in る, く, or す) also change form, but in different ways compared to English.

Teaching Verbs in the Classroom: The Basics

• Use Actions to Demonstrate Meaning: For beginners, demonstrate action verbs (run, jump, write) with gestures or pictures. Have students act them out in a game of charades.
• Sentence Construction Practice: Use sentence-building exercises where students replace verbs to understand different actions.
• Subject-Verb Agreement Drills: Provide examples on the board and have students correct errors in sentences.
• Irregular Verb Memory Games: Since irregular verbs are challenging, introduce them gradually through matching activities or bingo games.

Different Verb Categories

Action Verbs (動作動詞)

• Express a physical or mental action.
• Examples: run, write, think
• Activity: Have students mime an action while others guess the verb.

Stative Verbs (状態動詞)

• Describe a state, not an action.
• Examples: know, believe, seem
• Teaching Tip: Show how these verbs don’t take continuous (-ing) forms (e.g., “I am knowing” is incorrect.)

Regular and Irregular Verbs

• Regular Verbs (正則動詞): Add -ed to form the past tense.
  • Example: walk → walked
• Irregular Verbs (不正動詞): Change completely.
  • Example: go → went → gone
• Activity: Verb conjugation races where students race to conjugate verbs correctly.

Auxiliary (Helping) Verbs (助動詞)

• Used with main verbs to form different tenses or questions.
• Examples: be, have, do
• Usage:
  • “Be” with progressive tense (e.g., “is running”).
  • “Have” with perfect tense (e.g., “has eaten”).
  • “Do” for negatives/questions (e.g., “Do you like…?” ).
• Teaching Tip: Have students form questions using differnt auxiliary verbs (e.g. “Do/Does” – “Do you play the drums?”).

Modal Verbs (動詞性助動詞)

• Express necessity, ability, permission, or possibility.
• Examples: can, must, will, should
• Activity: Create real-life scenarios where students must use modals (e.g., “Can I go to the movies?”).

Transitive vs. Intransitive Verbs (付加動詞 vs. 自動詞)

• Transitive: Needs a direct object (“She eats an apple.”).
• Intransitive: Doesn’t take an object (“She sleeps.”).
• Activity: Ask students “What?” or “Whom?” after a verb to determine if it’s transitive.

Different Verb Tenses

Present Tense (現在形)

• Simple: Habits or truths (“She reads every day.”).
• Continuous: Ongoing action (“She is reading now.”).
• Perfect: Past action affecting the present (“She has read the book.”).
• Activity: Have students describe their daily routine to other students or the teachers.

Past Tense (過去形)

• Simple: Completed action (“She read the book.”).
• Continuous: Ongoing past action (“She was reading when the phone rang.”).
• Perfect: Past action before another past event (“She had read before the movie started.”).
• Activity: Have students write a short diary entry about yesterday.

Future Tense (未来形)

• Simple: Future actions (“She will read tomorrow.”).
• Continuous: Ongoing future action (“She will be reading at 8 PM.”).
• Perfect: Action completed before a future time (“She will have read by next week.”).
• Activity: Have students make plans using future tense sentences.

Final Tips

Teaching verbs effectively requires a mix of explanation, demonstration, and interactive activities. By incorporating games, sentence-building exercises, and real-life examples, ALTs can help students grasp verb concepts naturally and with confidence. Encourage students to notice verb forms in songs, anime subtitles, and conversations to reinforce their learning outside the classroom.