四段活用

Japanese

Kanji in this term
四	段	活	用
よ Grade: 1	だん Grade: 6	かつ Grade: 2	よう Grade: 2
kun'yomi	goon	kan'on

Etymology

Compound of 四段 (yodan, “quadrigrade, four-grade”) +‎ 活用 (katsuyō, “conjugation”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) よだんかつよー [yòdáń káꜜtsùyòò] (Nakadaka – [4])
• IPA^(key): [jo̞da̠ŋ ka̠t͡sɨjo̞ː]

Noun

四(よ)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) • (yodan katsuyō) ^{←よだんくわつよう (yodan kwatuyou)?}

1. (Classical Japanese grammar) a verbal conjugation class consisting of four alternating bases: -a, -i, -u, and -e

	未然形 Irrealis	連用形 Adverbial	終止形 Conclusive	連体形 Attributive	已然形 Realis	命令形 Imperative
書く (kak-, “to write”)	書か (kaka)	書き (kaki1 → kaki)	書く (kaku)	書く (kaku)	書け (kake2 → kake)	書け (kake1 → kake)
立つ (tat-, “to stand”)	立た (tata)	立ち (tati → tachi)	立つ (tatu → tatsu)	立つ (tatu → tatsu)	立て (tate)	立て (tate)
笑ふ (warap- → waraf-, “to laugh”)	笑は (warapa → warawa)	笑ひ (warapi1 → warai)	笑ふ (warapu → warau)	笑ふ (warapu → warau)	笑へ (warape2 → warae)	笑へ (warape1 → warae)

The subscripts in the table above indicate differences in vowel class that were already being lost in Old Japanese. It remains unclear what those different vowel classes may have meant. See the Syllables section in the Wikipedia article on Old Japanese for more details.

Usage notes

Verbs in this class are superseded in modern Japanese as 五段活用 (godan katsuyō) verbs, with additional variations in the 未然形 (mizenkei, “incomplete”) and 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “stem”) forms.

Related terms

• 五(ご)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (godan katsuyō)
• 上(かみ)一(いち)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (kami ichidan katsuyō)
• 上(かみ)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (kami nidan katsuyō)
• 下(しも)一(いち)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (shimo ichidan katsuyō)
• 下(しも)二(に)段(だん)活(かつ)用(よう) (shimo nidan katsuyō)
• カ行(ぎょう)変(へん)格(かく)活(かつ)用(よう) (ka-gyō henkaku katsuyō)
• サ行(ぎょう)変(へん)格(かく)活(かつ)用(よう) (sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō)
• ナ行(ぎょう)変(へん)格(かく)活(かつ)用(よう) (na-gyō henkaku katsuyō)
• ラ行(ぎょう)変(へん)格(かく)活(かつ)用(よう) (ra-gyō henkaku katsuyō)

 

See also

• Category:Japanese yodan verbs