Japanese i-adjective

sugoi — terrific 凄い

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 terrific sugoi 凄い is not terrific sugokunai 凄くない
Polite sugoi desu 凄いです sugokunai desu 凄くないです
Past Plain was terrific sugokatta 凄かった was not terrific sugokunakatta 凄くなかった
Polite sugokatta desu 凄かったです sugokunakatta desu 凄くなかったです
Presumptive Plain will probably be terrific sugoi darō 凄いだろう sugokunai darō 凄くないだろう
Polite sugoi deshō 凄いでしょう sugokunai deshō 凄くないでしょう
Conditional Standard if it is terrific sugokereba 凄ければ if it is not terrific sugokunakereba 凄くなければ
Connecting form Standard sugokute 凄くて sugokunakute 凄くなくて

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