When I studied (albeit briefly) French and Italian, grasping the concept of the verb tenses was pretty straightforward; present perfect, etc.
What made me really interested in learning Japanese was the cool things that you can make a verb do while speaking Japanese. For example:
行く-Go. The first difference is the natural state of a Japanese verb is not the infinitive (to go), it's ready to use: Stick a subject on the front and go.
行っている-I am going. Progressive Tense. Pretty boring, run of the mill stuff. What if I want to go somewhere? See below:
行きたい-To express the desire to go, you can conjugate the verb. Come to Japan and say you live in Hawaii, and you will hear this from all directions:). Don't worry, it just expresses a desire, no need to offer to put your friends up. You also have the negative, 行きたくない, for when you don't want to go.
行きましょう-When you don't want to go it alone, you say "Let's Go!"
行ける-Potential Form. I can go. With slightly more sad connotations, is the negative: 行けない, I can't go:(
行かれる-Passive Form. There are a few ways to use this form, the most interesting of which conveys that something rather bad was done to you. As in "I wanted them to stay, but they left on me" kind of thing. Using other verbs, this is useful if someone steps on your foot (踏まれる), Your co-workers stay home and leave you to do all the work (休まれる-literally, "they took the day off on me"), or just get scolded (叱られる).
行かせる -Causative. This has two meanings. Either, "I made him go" or "I let him go". Yep. It was tricky at first, but in context, it's kind of easy to tell which meaning the speaker is trying to convey.
You can also combine these last two to form the causative passive:
行かせられる -This usually convey the speaker was made to do something against their will. "I hate the family trips to the squid farm, but my dad made me go."
The pronunciation changes and sometimes the root (行) is just a simple sound (い-i, but pronounced long: ee) So the basic form, iku, can go through all these changes becoming the tongue twister: ikaserareru, the last verb form listed above.
Japanese verbs are fun. I still love to be on the train and hear native speakers use these so fluidly. I sound a little like a box of meatballs, rolling down a hill.