三段活用 さんだんかつよう Meanings Noun trigrade conjugation (of the classical verbs "su" and "ku"); conjugation in which the stem vowel alternates between "i", "u" and "o" Kanji 三 three. Read as サン. 段 step. Read as ダン. 活 active. Read as カツ. 用 use. Read as ヨウ. Word lists Grammar Jinuma: Japanese Dictionary · Word lists