Hi, so short backstory – this is my first language that I'm learning that has verb conjugations (besides my mother tongue english, but I don't really count that since I learned naturally). I also speak chinese which doesn't really have conjugations.
How did you remember all of the conjugations? A lot of textbooks and study materials I use just say "Oh, all you have to do is remember this pattern!" and then go on to explain things like
utau – utawanai
nomu – noranai
matsu – matsunai
etc etc.
Like, I get the pattern, I understand the idea of moving up the chain of sounds for this, of course there are always exceptions. Then there are easier rules like replacing i adjectives with "nai"- that one requires less brain power and just sounds more natural.
For me personally I feel like this requires more memorization and I can't speak naturally because I'm trying to remember all of the rules and exceptions (hashiru – hashiranai, etc).
It seems almost easier to learn each word and conjugation as their own separate words and then notice the patterns later.
Any advice with this is definitely welcome! Thanks, it's my biggest struggle.
*edit: this is also the first time using a textbook to learn a language since Japanese has so many rules that I was struggling to pick up with natural context.
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