Classical Japanese: Let’s start at the very beginning
Okay, so in any discussion of Classical Japanese, you’d struggle to get by without knowing the 6 Forms of Verbs (and Adjectives); it’s one of the main components that makes Classical Japanese largely different from Modern Standard Japanese (though, admittedly, if you look you’ll still see remnants of the forms in modern japanese). I actually made a post about this a while back, but it’s poorly written, so I figured I’d come back and work on it a bit more.
未然形: Mizenkei (lit. not-yet-realized form)
The Mizenkei usually shows some sort of action/state that hasn’t happened yet. It might be attached to helping verbs of intention, like じ, む, or むず; conjecture, like まし; desire, like まほし; or aux verbs of negation, like ず.
月なく、雪も降らず。
Tsuki naku, yuki mo furazu.
[Nihon kotenbungaku taikei 20-515]
There is no moon, and the snow does not fall.
(降らず (furazu) is made up of the Mizenkei of Furu, Fura, and Zu, which is the Shuushikei(Final Form) of the Negative Helping Verb, which is itself just called Zu.
連用形: Renyoukei (lit. continuous-use form)
The Renyoukei (or Ren’youkei, depending on which romanization system you follow) is used for an action or process that is either taking place currently, or has already happened. It’s often followed by a helping verb showing that the action has already happened, like き, けり, or たり. It might also be followed by a particle showing Simultaneous or Continuative action, like て.
雨まことに降リけり。
Ame makoto ni furikeri
[Modified from Nihon kotenbungaku taikei 19-151]
I heard that the rain truly fell.
(降りけり is made up of 降り, the Renyoukei of 降る, and けり, the Hearsay Perfective Helping Verb in the Shuushikei)
終止形: Shuushikei (lit. terminating form)
The Shuushikei marks the end of a sentence, and shows that something is taking place in the present (with some exceptions). It might also be followed by certain helping verbs that make guesses about the present.
いささかに雨降る。
Isasaka ni ame furu.
[Nihon kotenbungaku taikei 20-38]
The rain falls little-by-little.
(降る is the Shuushikei of itself, being that verbs are listed by their Shuushikei)
連体形: Rentaikei (lit. object-connecting form)
This form is basically the same as modern Modifying Phrases. In Classical Japanese, it was its own conjugation, but nowadays it’s shifted to be consistently the same as the Shuushikei.
雨まじへ雪降る夜
Ame majie yuki furu yoru
[Nihon kotenbungaku taikei 5-99]
An evening that snow falls mixed with rain.
(降る here is the Rentaikei of 降る. Note that it won’t always be the same as the Shuushikei like in modern Japanese, for example you can say 死ぬる人[shinuru hito; a person who dies.] Note that the Shuushikei here would be 死ぬ[shinu] and the Rentaikei is 死ぬる)
已然形: Izenkei (lit. already-realized form)
The Izenkei usually shows that an action has already taken place from the point of time you’re looking at. It is most often followed by the helping verbs ば (Because, or When) or ど（も）(Same as modern けれども, which in itself comes from Classical 来れど（も）[Keredo(mo)])
あかつきより雨降れば…
Akatsuki yori ame fureba…
[Sentence clip from Nihon kotenbungaku taikei 20-38]
Because rain had been falling since early morning…
(降れば is the Izenkei of 降る plus the Conjunctive Helping Verb ば)
命令形: Meireikei (lit. order form/command form)
The Meireikei is last, and almost certainly least of all the conjugations. You know that conjugation in Contemporary Japanese that’s rarely used that issues commands? That’s all the Meireikei is. Sometimes you add the Emphatic Particle よ after it, but really, if you just memorize that this is a command, you’ll figure it out.
降れ降れ、こ雪。
Fure, fure, koyuki.
[Nihon kotenbungaku taikei 30-238]
Fall! Fall, Powdery Snow!
(降れ is the Meireikei of, you guessed it, 降る. As said, this one isn’t super common, and can mostly be ignored)
Okay, so that kind of wraps up the basic conjugations in Classical Japanese. How do you conjugate the verbs you might ask? That’s a whole mess in and of itself, and is probably something that’s best learned by rote, staring for hours on end at incomprehensible tables.
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