Editing Classical Japanese (section)

==== Verb class distribution ====

While the many conjugation classes may seem overwhelming, most of them contain few verbs. The quadrigrade and lower bigrade classes are the primary, containing about 75% and 20% of the verbs in the language, respectively. The upper bigrade class is small (about 56 non-compound verbs), but sizable enough to make an exhaustive list difficult. The other 6 classes all together contain between 22 and 28 verbs, depending on whether basic compound verbs are included or not. An exhaustive list of these follows, with verbs in the conclusive form, as is the most common standard. Chinese character pronunciations are indicated by hiragana in parentheses following the given character. The first spelling listed for a given verb is the most common, and those that follow are alternative spellings. Some of these spellings are generally used for slightly different connotations of the same verb, while others are simple alternatives. In later reference, only the first spelling (in pre-World War II orthography) will be used, and the transcription will be based on the historical spelling. A blank cell in one (or both) of the "modern" columns indicates that the modern spelling and/or transcription is the same as the pre-World War II version.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Japanese (Pre-World War II orthography) !! Japanese (Modern orthography) !! Romanization (Pre-World War II orthography) !! Romanization (Modern orthography) !! Translation
|-
! colspan = "5" | {{nihongo2|上一段活用動詞}} (''Kami ichidan katsuyō dōshi'' "Upper monograde conjugation class verbs")
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|着る (きる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Ki-ru'' || To wear
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|似る (にる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Ni-ru'' || To resemble
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|煮る (にる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Ni-ru'' || To boil
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|嚏る (ひる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Hi-ru'' || To sneeze
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|干る, 乾る (ひる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Hi-ru'' || To dry
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|簸る (ひる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Hi-ru'' || To winnow
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|廻る, 回る (みる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Mi-ru'' || To go around
|-
| {{nihongo2|見る, 視る, 觀る (みる)}} || {{nihongo2|見る, 視る, 観る (みる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Mi-ru'' || To see
|-
| {{nihongo2|鑑みる (かゞみる)}} || {{nihongo2|鑑みる (かがみる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Kagami-ru'' || To learn from
|-
| {{nihongo2|顧みる, 省みる (かへりみる)}} || {{nihongo2|顧みる, 省みる (かえりみる)}} || ''Kaherimi-ru'' || ''Kaerimi-ru'' || To reflect upon
|-
| {{nihongo2|試みる (こゝろみる)}} || {{nihongo2|試みる (こころみる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Kokoromi-ru'' || To try
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|射る (いる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''I-ru'' || To shoot (an arrow)
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|沃る (いる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''I-ru'' || To douse (with water)
|-
| {{nihongo2|鑄る (いる)}} || {{nihongo2|鋳る (いる)}} ||colspan="2"| ''I-ru'' || To cast (metal)
|-
| {{nihongo2|居る (ゐる)}} || {{nihongo2|居る (いる)}} || ''Wi-ru'' || ''I-ru'' || To sit
|-
| {{nihongo2|率る, 將る (ゐる)}} || {{nihongo2|率る, 将る (いる)}} || ''Wi-ru'' || ''I-ru'' || To carry (constantly)
|-
| {{nihongo2|率ゐる (ひきゐる)}} || {{nihongo2|率いる (ひきいる)}} || ''Hikiwi-ru'' || ''Hikii-ru'' || To lead (an army)
|-
| {{nihongo2|用ゐる (もちゐる)}} || {{nihongo2|用いる (もちいる)}} || ''Mochiwi-ru'' || ''Mochii-ru'' || To use
|-
! colspan = "5" | {{nihongo2|下一段活用動詞}} (''Shimo ichidan katsuyō dōshi'' "Lower monograde conjugation class verbs")
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|蹴る (ける)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Ke-ru'' || To kick
|-
! colspan = "5" | {{nihongo2|カ行変格活用動詞}} (''Ka-gyō henkaku dōshi'' "K-irregular verbs")
|-
| {{nihongo2|來 (く)}} || {{nihongo2|来 (く)}} ||colspan="2"| ''K-u'' || To come
|-
! colspan = "5" | {{nihongo2|サ行変格活用動詞}} (''Sa-gyō henkaku katsuyō dōshi'' "S-irregular conjugation class verbs")
|-
| {{nihongo2|爲 (す)}} || {{nihongo2|為 (す)}} ||colspan="2"| ''S-u'' || To do
|-
| {{nihongo2|御座す (おはす)}} || {{nihongo2|御座す (おわす)}} || ''Ohas-u'' || ''Owas-u'' || To be/go/come (honorific form)
|-
! colspan = "5" | {{nihongo2|ナ行変格活用動詞}} (''Na-gyō henkaku katsuyō dōshi'' "N-irregular conjugation class verbs")
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|往ぬ, 去ぬ (いぬ)}} ||colspan="2"| ''In-u'' || To go away
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|死ぬ (しぬ)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Shin-u'' || To die
|-
! colspan = "5" | {{nihongo2|ラ行変格活用動詞}} (''Ra-gyō henkaku katsuyō dōshi'' "R-irregular conjugation class verbs")
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|有り, 在り (あり)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Ar-i'' || To exist
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|在すかり, 坐すかり (いますかり)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Imasukar-i'' || To exist (honorific form)
|-
|colspan="2"| {{nihongo2|侍り (はべり)}} ||colspan="2"| ''Haber-i'' || To serve (humble form)
|-
| {{nihongo2|居り (をり)}} || {{nihongo2|居り (おり)}} || ''Wor-i'' || ''Or-i'' || To be
|}

===== Table notes =====

Note that these translations are glosses, and may not reflect certain nuances or rare alternative meanings.

In addition, the translations are for the classical meaning of the verb, which may differ from the modern meaning of the verb if it has survived into modern Japanese either slightly (e.g., {{nihongo2|着る (きる)}} ''ki-ru'', which meant "to wear [in general]" in classical Japanese, but means "to wear [from the waist up]" in modern Japanese), or significantly (e.g., {{nihongo2|居る (ゐる)}} ''wi-ru'', which meant "to sit" in classical Japanese, but primarily means "to be" (for animate objects) in modern Japanese). Some may have the same meaning, but a different pronunciation (e.g., {{nihongo2|鑑みる (かゞみる)}} ''kagami-ru'' "to learn from", which is generally pronounced and written {{nihongo2|鑑みる (かんがみる)}} ''kangami-ru'' in modern Japanese). Also, even for those verbs which have survived with the same meaning and form, many are archaic and rarely used in modern Japanese (e.g., {{nihongo2|嚏る (ひる)}} ''hi-ru'' "to sneeze", with the same modern meaning and form, but almost never used). On the other hand, some have kept the same meaning, form, and prominence into the modern language (e.g., {{nihongo2|見る (みる)}} ''mi-ru'' "to see", one of the oldest surviving verbs in the language and also one of the most common, both in classical and modern texts).

{{nihongo2|在すかり}} (''imasukar-i'' "to exist", honorific form) has three pronunciation variants, each of which can use either Chinese character: {{nihongo2|在すがり (いますがり) / 坐すがり (いますがり)}} (''imasugar-i''), {{nihongo2|在そかり / 坐そかり}} (''imasokar-i''), and {{nihongo2|在そがり / 坐そがり}} (''imasogar-i'').

Finally, the "modern" transcriptions are purely orthographic. For example, the modern version conclusive form of the classical verb {{nihongo2|來 (く)}} (''k-u'' "to come") is {{nihongo2|来る (くる)}} (''k-uru''), but the modern form is given in the table as {{nihongo2|来 (く)}} (''k-u''), which is the way that a modern Japanese writer would write the ''classical'' Japanese word, rather than the way they would write the ''modern'' Japanese word.