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Verbs play a special role to a language that it completes the thought. We can find them in sentences and independent clauses. In Tagalog, it is called ‘pandiwa’.

Pandiwa is derived from the root word ‘diwa’ which is noteworthy. In Pashtun language, it means candle or light and could also be used as a girl’s name. Back to Tagalog, it means thought or spirit and I even found a page which says that “Diwa in Tagalog means essence…” With this in mind, I consider that verbs are very important.

The location of the verbs in sentences vary depending on the language that use them. Tagalog as well as Ilocano and Cebuano place the verbs in front of the sentences. Tagalog may also put it in the middle just like in English and Chinese. Latin verbs too can be found in the middle as a Latin blog I saw prefer it but the Romans prefer it in the end of the sentences just like the Korean and the Japanese.

Dôshi (or doushi if we will follow どうし, 動詞) in Japanese means verb. The two kanji we have here means motion and part of speech respectively. It is highly complex just like Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and Korean verbs. It ranges from extremely rude tenses to extremely polite ones. It has both casual and formal form; transitive and intransitive; and, humble and honorific. Aside from the above, it also have variations, alternatives (in relation to taboos on certain occasions) and the respect languages (keigo, humble and honorific forms) vary greatly and some even share the same form.

Indeed, Japanese verbs needs extra effort to master. Despite this, I am still interested with it. I even become more enthusiastic about it. Anyway, I have several links to share regarding Japanese verbs. They are the:

MLC free study materials page – Which group these verbs in different levels of difficulty, conjugation groups and tenses groups. They even have visual aids and quizzes to help the students.

The epochrypha’s Japanese language and culture site – in which I only focus on the verb related pages 1, 2, 3, and 4.

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