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Derived in theHeian period from writing theman'yōgana kanji宇 in thecursivesōsho style.
/mu/ →/ũ/ →/u/ → (fused with the/a/ ending in the preceding verb stem)/ɔː/ →/oː/
FromOld Japaneseむ(mu). See the entry atよう for more information.
う• (-u) uninflectable(in Modern Japanese, no longer pronounced-u but fused with the preceding vowel to make-ō or-yō)
Attaches by changing the-u of godan verbs to-ō (spelled-ou in modern kana,-au in historical kana). The polite auxiliary-masu changes to-mashō (spelled-mashou in modern kana,-maseu in historical kana). The Tokyo accent falls on the penultimate mora regardless of the underlying verb.
| Word | dictionary form | volitional form (modern kana) | volitional form (historical kana) |
|---|---|---|---|
| godan verbs (type 1) | |||
| 書く | かく (káꜜkù) | かこう (kàkóꜜò) | かかう |
| 泳ぐ | およぐ (òyóꜜgù) | およごう (òyógóꜜò) | およがう |
| 話す | はなす (hànáꜜsù) | はなそう (hànásóꜜò) | はなさう |
| 待つ | まつ (máꜜtsù) | まとう (màtóꜜò) | またう |
| 死ぬ | しぬ (shìnú) | しのう (shìnóꜜò) | しなう |
| 呼ぶ | よぶ (yòbú) | よぼう (yòbóꜜò) | よばう |
| 読む | よむ (yóꜜmù) | よもう (yòmóꜜò) | よまう |
| 作る | つくる (tsùkúꜜrù) | つくろう (tsùkúróꜜò) | つくらう |
| 買う | かう (kàú) | かおう (kàóꜜò) | かはう |
| -i adjectives (archaic) | |||
| 高い | たかい(takai) | たかかろう(takakarō) | たかからう |
| auxiliaries | |||
| だ | だ(da) | だろう(darō) | だらう |
| です | です(desu) | でしょう(deshō) | でせう |
| ます | ます(masu) | ましょう(mashō) | ませう |
| ない | ない(nai) | なかろう(nakarō) (archaic) | なからう |
| たい | たい(tai) | たかろう(takarō) (archaic) | たからう |
| た | た(ta) | たろう(tarō) (archaic) | たらう |
The volitional form of ichidan and irregular verbs are formed withよう(-yō) instead ofう(-u).
This ending also attaches to adjectives and negative forms of verbs but the meaning is restricted to the conjectural sense. To express volition not to do something you can use theまい(-mai) ending or express it in another way:…のをやめよう(… no o yameyō,“let's give up doing something”) or…ないようにしよう(…nai yō ni shiyō,“let's decide that we don't do something”).
In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a助動詞(jodōshi,“auxiliary verb”) attaching to the未然形(mizenkei,“irrealis form”). The ending itself has the sole formう(-u) as its終止形(shūshikei,“terminal form”) and連体形(rentaikei,“attributive oradnominal form”). Morphologically, this is an uninflectinginflectionalsuffix whose proper shape is/oː/ (-ō), attaching to the stem of consonant-stem verbs.
| Verbs | -i adjectives | nouns and-na adjectives | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpast | Plain | Affirmative | Use the dictionary form | stem +い (-i) | noun +だ (da) (noun +である (de aru)) |
| Negative | mizenkei +ない (-nai) | stem +くない (-ku nai) | noun +で（は）ない (de [wa] nai) | ||
| Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei +ます (-masu) | stem +いです (-i desu) | noun +です (desu) | |
| Negative | ren'yōkei +ません (-masen) | stem +くないです (-ku nai desu) stem +くありません (-ku arimasen) | noun +で（は）ないです (de [wa] nai desu) noun +で（は）ありません (de [wa] arimasen) | ||
| Past | Plain | Affirmative | ren'yōkei (withonbin sound changes for Group I verbs) +た (-ta) | stem +かった (-katta) | noun +だった (datta) (noun +であった (de atta)) |
| Negative | mizenkei +なかった (-nakatta) | stem +くなかった (-ku nakatta) | noun +で（は）なかった (de [wa] nakatta) | ||
| Polite | Affirmative | ren'yōkei +ました (-mashita) | stem +かったです (-katta desu) | noun +でした (deshita) | |
| Negative | ren'yōkei +ませんでした (-masen deshita) | stem +くなかったです (-ku nakatta desu) stem +くありませんでした (-ku arimasen deshita) | noun +で（は）なかったです (de [wa] nakatta desu) noun +で（は）ありませんでした (de [wa] arimasen deshita) | ||
| Volitional | Plain | mizenkei (of Group I verbs) +う (-u >-o) mizenkei (of other verbs) +よう (-yō) | †stem +かろう (-karō) (stem +いだろう (-i darō)) | noun +だろう (darō) (noun +であろう (de arō)) | |
| Polite | ren'yōkei +ましょう (-mashō) | (stem +いでしょう (-i deshō)) | noun +でしょう (deshō) | ||
| Conjunctive | ren'yōkei (withonbin sound changes for Group I verbs) +て (-te) | stem +くて (-kute) | noun +で (de) (noun +であって (de atte)) | ||
| Hypothetical conditional | kateikei +ば (-ba) | stem +ければ (-kereba) | (noun +であれば (de areba)) | ||
| For pronunciation and definitions ofう – see the following entries. | ||
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| (This term,う(u), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read asう, seeCategory:Japanese kanji read as う. |
う• (-u) (in Modern Japanese, no longer pronounced-u but fused with the preceding vowel)
This form of adjectives is now restricted to western Japan. In the standard language it is used in super-polite language beforeございます(gozaimasu) and存じます(zonjimasu), and also in fossilized words like全うする(mattō suru).
