There Are 2 Kinds of Verbs! - る Version

In Japanese, there are two main kinds of verbs. Since it might be confusing for new learners, I'll split it up into two lessons (る and う) and then compare them in the latter lesson.

All Japanese verbs either end in る or う (not necessarily う, but the う sound). For now, we'll focus on る verbs.What is a る verb? Simply put, it's a verb that ends in る. The character BEFORE the る is either an え (e) or い (i) sound. This is very important, and you'll have to remember that. る and う verbs are conjugated differently, with る being the more simple one. Here are a few examples of る verbs in their short form.

たべる (taberu) = to eat
でる (deru) = to exit
みる (miru) = to look; see
おきる(okiru) = to wake up

Notice that they all end with る, and the character before る is either an え (e) or い (i) sound. For the most part, conjugating る verbs is pretty simple. Generally, you'd just drop the る and add the verb suffix to it. For example, if you were to conjugate the verbs above into their -masu form, you'd drop the る and add ます at the end.

たべます (tabemasu) = to eat
でます (demasu) = to exit
みます (mimasu) = to look; see
おきます(okimasu) = to wake up

Pretty simple, right? That's basically how る verbs work. Hopefully this isn't too difficult to understand now, although I understand if it still feels like it. Slowly but surely, we'll learn more about grammar and things will begin to fall in place.