Japanese i-adjective

kibishii — strict 厳しい

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 strict kibishii 厳しい is not strict kibishikunai 厳しくない
Polite kibishii desu 厳しいです kibishikunai desu 厳しくないです
Past Plain was strict kibishikatta 厳しかった was not strict kibishikunakatta 厳しくなかった
Polite kibishikatta desu 厳しかったです kibishikunakatta desu 厳しくなかったです
Presumptive Plain will probably be strict kibishii darō 厳しいだろう kibishikunai darō 厳しくないだろう
Polite kibishii deshō 厳しいでしょう kibishikunai deshō 厳しくないでしょう
Conditional Standard if it is strict kibishikereba 厳しければ if it is not strict kibishikunakereba 厳しくなければ
Connecting form Standard kibishikute 厳しくて kibishikunakute 厳しくなくて

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