3

I was looking for a site that could help me with the language tests and found this one:

http://www.jlptstudy.net/N5/?vocab-list

One thing I am confused by is the type column of this grid. Can anyone tell me what they think int, u-v and the other values mean?

1

1 Answer 1

2

I am not sure whether your question is on-topic here.

'int' means interjection. 'u-v' means a verb with an ending of 'u' as in 'あう' and 'いう' or 'u' sound as in '[要る]{いる}'. 'ru-v' is a verb with an ending of 'ru' as in '[入れる]{いれる}'. You will be able to figure out what the others are for.

5
  • These 'ru-verbs' are in proper parlance ichidan verbs, and 'u-verbs' are godan verbs. The textbook publishers just insist on having the most confusing terminology available. I'm not sure why this web site chose to follow their example.
    – oals
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 10:17
  • 2
    Well, to be fair, "ichidan" and "godan" are Japanese words and not transparent to beginners... and "monograde" etc. isn't much better. Descriptive names are more useful for the 95% of people who just need a scaffolding to start talking. (That said "ru-v" could stand to be a bit clearer itself.)
    – Matt
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 10:32
  • 3
    I wouldn't mind if they called them group 1 and group 5, but they keep creating crisscrossing terminology such as 'group 1' (5-dan) and 'group 2' (1-dan) which is what gets me.
    – oals
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 10:53
  • 1
    The u and ru terms make perfect sense if taught as part of a coherent framework. 要る is ir-u, while 居る is i-ru. Add the negator -(a)nai, and you get 要らない ir-anai and 居ない i-nai. But this sort of discussion doesn't work in the traditional kana-bound framework of Japanese school grammar.
    – user1478
    Commented Aug 26, 2016 at 12:47
  • 1
    Group 1 and Group 2 vs 5dan and 1dan is pretty confusing, yeah. But "group 5" would be worse, because it implies there are more groups than there are! In conclusion, "vowel-stem" and "consonant-stem" 4 life.
    – Matt
    Commented Aug 27, 2016 at 1:29

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .