～する

する means “to do”. Many Japanese nouns that name an action, like 勉強 (study) or 電話 (telephone), become full verbs simply by adding する after them.

For English speakers, noun + する usually maps to a single English verb: 勉強する = “to study”, 電話する = “to phone”. This one pattern instantly gives you hundreds of new verbs.

1. Noun + する as one verb

Attach する directly to an action noun. The whole thing then behaves like a single verb.

2. Noun + を + する

You can also treat the noun as the object of する by putting を between them. 勉強する and 勉強をする mean essentially the same thing.

Note that する changes its shape for politeness and grammar just like other verbs: the polite form is します. Later you will also meet special variants such as ～いたす (humble) and ～される (passive or respectful), which are built on this same noun + する pattern.

How to form it

Action noun + する

• 勉強（べんきょう）= study → 勉強する（べんきょうする）= to study
• 電話（でんわ）= telephone → 電話する（でんわする）= to make a phone call
• 料理（りょうり）= cooking → 料理する（りょうりする）= to cook

Key idea

If a noun names an action, adding する lets you do that action. Learn one noun, and you get the matching verb for free.