Two versions of the verb 'to buy'?

[toni]

I don't know if this is the right forum to ask this question but there's this basic Japanese course at http://www.learn-japanese.info and according to them the verb "to buy" is "kaimasu". But according to you and an internet dictionary it is "kau". I'm all confused with these words so can anyone help me? Moreover, is the page that I just mentioned trustworthy? The course is called "Nihongo o narau".

[skrhgh3b]

you just haven't learned the difference between plain speech and polite speech yet. believe it or not, they're both the exact same verb, only conjugated differently. i recommend reading through tae kim's japanese guide to grammar. here's a link:

http://www.guidetojapanese.org/

[skrhgh3b]

to bug your eyes out, here's a pretty comprehensive table of possible conjugations of the verb "to buy":

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1W%C7%E3%A4%A6_v5u

[toni]

Thanks everybody!