Little intro
As you probably know, there are 3 main groups of Verbs in Japanese. They are called differently in different sources:
| 1. | Godan (ไบๆฎต) | Group 1 (ๅ่ฉ 1) | Group I | U Verbs |
| 2. | Ichidan (ไธๆฎต) | Group 2 (ๅ่ฉ 2) | Group II | Ru Verbs |
| 3. | Irregular Verbs (ไธ่ฆๅๅ่ฉ) | Group 3 ( ๅ่ฉ 3) | Group III | ย |
Ichidan Verbs always end with ใ, Godan Verbs can have different endings, including ใ.
Furthermore, Ichidan Verbs always end either in -ใใ or -ใใ sound.
Some Godan Verbs can also end with -ใใ or -ใใ sound.
If youโd like to learn more about Godan Verbs and their conjugations check out this post
So, how many Ichidan and how many Godan verb are there?
We analyzed the data source we use in our dictionary and here are the statistics:
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Godan | 11149 | 67.21% |
| Ichidan | 5438 | 32.78% |
| Irregular | 2 | 0.01% |
Ichidan Statistics
Letโs look at Ichidan Verbs more closely:
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Ichidan with -ใใ / -ใใ ending | 5438 | 100% |
| Ichidan with different ending | 0 | 0% |
Out of 5438 Ichidan Verbs there are NO exceptions to the -ใใ / -ใใ (-iru / -eru) ending rule.
Nice, isnโt it?
From the 5438 Ichidan Verbs๏ผ
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| -ใใ (-eru) ending | 4834 | 88.89% |
| -ใใ (-iru) ending | 604 | 11.11% |
As you can see, -ใใ (-eru) ending is much more common, in fact it makes 88.89% of all Ichidan Verbs.
The rest, 11.11% being those with -ใใ (-iru) ending.
Godan Statistics
Letโs dive into Godan Verbs:
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Godan with other endings | 10440 | 93.64% |
| Godan with -ใใ / -ใใ ending | 709 | 6.36% |
As you can see, only about 6.36% of Godan Verbs end on -ใใ (-iru) / -ใใ (-eru) sounds and therefore may sound like Ichidan Verbs.
Majority - 93.64% end with different sound.
Out of the 709 Godan Verbs ending in -ใใ (-iru) / -ใใ (-eru):
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| -ใใ (-iru) ending | 557 | 78.56% |
| -ใใ (-eru) ending | 152 | 21.44% |
Notice that with Godan Verbs the -ใใ (-iru) ending is in majority, unlike with Ichidan Verbs.
78.56% end with -ใใ (-iru) and only 21.44% end with -ใใ (-eru) sound.
Godan vs. Ichidan with -ใใ (-iru) ending
Statistics for verbs ending with -ใใ (-iru) sound are:
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Ichidan | 604 | 52.02% |
| Godan | 557 | 47.98% |
As you can see, there are slightly more Ichidans ending with -ใใ (-iru) sound, but only about 2% more than Godans.
With -ใใ (-eru) itโs quite differentโฆ
Godan vs. Ichidan with -ใใ (-eru) ending
Statistics for verbs ending with -ใใ (-eru) sound:
| Count | Percentage | |
|---|---|---|
| Ichidan | 4834 | 96.95% |
| Godan | 152 | 3.05% |
Ichidans are dominating the -ใใ (-eru) endings, being total of nearly 97% of all verbs with this ending.
So if you encounter a verb with -ใใ (-eru) sound and you are not sure if itโs Ichidan or Godan, statistics suggest to guess Ichidan.
Godan Endings
While weโre at it, letโs explore the other endings as well:
| ย | Count | Percentage | Examples | List of common used examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ใ (ru) | 3792 | 34.01% | ไฝใ, ๅฃฒใ, ๅใ | Link |
| ใ (su) | 2864 | 25.69% | ๅบใ, ๅใ, ็คบใ | Link |
| ใ (ku) | 1540 | 13.81% | ่กใ, ๅผใ, ้ใ | Link |
| ใ (u) | 1161 | 10.41% | ๆใ, ๆญใ, ่ฒทใ | Link |
| ใ (mu) | 993 | 8.91% | ่ชญใ, ๆฅฝใใ, ไผใ | Link |
| ใค (tsu) | 396 | 3.55% | ๅพ ใค, ๆใค, ็ซใค | Link |
| ใ (gu) | 214 | 1.92% | ๆณณใ, ๆฟฏใ, ๆฌกใ | Link |
| ใถ (bu) | 176 | 1.58% | ้ใถ, ๅฒใถ, ๅผใถ | Link |
| ใฌ (nu) | 13 | 0.12% | ๆญปใฌ, ๅพใฌ, ๆฐใฌ | Link |
As you can see, ใ (ru) rules the Godan Verbs - taking 34.01% of all endings.
The least common is ใฌ (nu) with only 0.12%.
Irregular Verbs
Irregular Verbs get a bit complicated to define.
Most sources consider only ใใ (suru) and ๆฅใ (kuru) to be truly irregular.
Some mention also the copula ใ (da) and polite ใงใ (desu) together with the verb ใใ (aru) as somewhat irregular.
Also there are few exceptions of conjugations in polite forms (e.g. ใใใฃใใใ -> ใใใฃใใใใพใ).
Since there is no consensus, we do not consider there to be truly irregular and our statistics are counting only the ใใ (suru) and ๆฅใ (kuru).
Therefore, since we count only 2 verbs to be truly irregular, it makes just 0.01% of all verbs.
Disclaimer:
There statistics do not precisely reflect the whole language! Consider all numbers to be approximate!
As mentioned before, we analyzed our data source - JMdict-EDICT Dictionary Project to create these statistics.
The data source does not cover all existing words and may contain errors.
Language is like a living organism, it evolves and changes over time.