Japanese i-adjective

muzukashii — difficult 難しい

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 difficult muzukashii 難しい is not difficult muzukashikunai 難しくない
Polite muzukashii desu 難しいです muzukashikunai desu 難しくないです
Past Plain was difficult muzukashikatta 難しかった was not difficult muzukashikunakatta 難しくなかった
Polite muzukashikatta desu 難しかったです muzukashikunakatta desu 難しくなかったです
Presumptive Plain will probably be difficult muzukashii darō 難しいだろう muzukashikunai darō 難しくないだろう
Polite muzukashii deshō 難しいでしょう muzukashikunai deshō 難しくないでしょう
Conditional Standard if it is difficult muzukashikereba 難しければ if it is not difficult muzukashikunakereba 難しくなければ
Connecting form Standard muzukashikute 難しくて muzukashikunakute 難しくなくて

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