Japanese i-adjective

mijikai — short 短い

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 short mijikai 短い is not short mijikakunai 短くない
Polite mijikai desu 短いです mijikakunai desu 短くないです
Past Plain was short mijikakatta 短かった was not short mijikakunakatta 短くなかった
Polite mijikakatta desu 短かったです mijikakunakatta desu 短くなかったです
Presumptive Plain will probably be short mijikai darō 短いだろう mijikakunai darō 短くないだろう
Polite mijikai deshō 短いでしょう mijikakunai deshō 短くないでしょう
Conditional Standard if it is short mijikakereba 短ければ if it is not short mijikakunakereba 短くなければ
Connecting form Standard mijikakute 短くて mijikakunakute 短くなくて

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