Japanese i-adjective

karui — light (not heavy) 軽い

Explore the principal positive, negative, past, non-past and conditional forms of this Japanese adjective.

How i-adjectives conjugate

The final changes to create negative, past and connecting forms. The adjective itself carries this grammatical information, so a separate verb is not required in the plain forms.

Conjugation table

The English glosses are approximate; the natural translation depends on the surrounding sentence.

Form Style Positive Negative
Present (non-past) Plain is light (not heavy) karui 軽い is not light (not heavy) karukunai 軽くない
Polite karui desu 軽いです karukunai desu 軽くないです
Past Plain was light (not heavy) karukatta 軽かった was not light (not heavy) karukunakatta 軽くなかった
Polite karukatta desu 軽かったです karukunakatta desu 軽くなかったです
Presumptive Plain will probably be light (not heavy) karui darō 軽いだろう karukunai darō 軽くないだろう
Polite karui deshō 軽いでしょう karukunai deshō 軽くないでしょう
Conditional Standard if it is light (not heavy) karukereba 軽ければ if it is not light (not heavy) karukunakereba 軽くなければ
Connecting form Standard karukute 軽くて karukunakute 軽くなくて

These conjugations are generated automatically and are intended as a learning guide. Check the natural usage in context when accuracy is important.