Japanese i-adjective
wakai — young 若い
Explore the principal positive, negative, past, non-past and conditional forms of this Japanese adjective.
How i-adjectives conjugate
The final い 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 young wakai 若い | is not young wakakunai 若くない |
| Polite | wakai desu 若いです | wakakunai desu 若くないです | |
| Past | Plain | was young wakakatta 若かった | was not young wakakunakatta 若くなかった |
| Polite | wakakatta desu 若かったです | wakakunakatta desu 若くなかったです | |
| Presumptive | Plain | will probably be young wakai darō 若いだろう | wakakunai darō 若くないだろう |
| Polite | wakai deshō 若いでしょう | wakakunai deshō 若くないでしょう | |
| Conditional | Standard | if it is young wakakereba 若ければ | if it is not young wakakunakereba 若くなければ |
| Connecting form | Standard | wakakute 若くて | wakakunakute 若くなくて |
These conjugations are generated automatically and are intended as a learning guide. Check the natural usage in context when accuracy is important.