細い (hosoi) conjugation
thin, slender, fine
細い (ほそい, hosoi) is an i-adjective. I-adjectives carry their own tense: drop the final い and the endings attach straight to the stem. No だ, no です needed to make a complete sentence.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~です) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | 細い hosoi | 細いです hosoidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 細くない hosokunai | 細くないです hosokunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 細かった hosokatta | 細かったです hosokattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 細くなかった hosokunakatta | 細くなかったです hosokunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 細くて hosokute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 細く hosoku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 細い〜 hosoi〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 細ければ hosokereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 細かったら hosokattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 細くなる hosokunaru | 細くなります hosokunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 細すぎる hososugiru | 細すぎます hososugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 細そう hososou | 細そうです hososoudesu | “looks / seems ~” from appearance. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese word to hear it spoken.
Why it conjugates this way
I-adjectives carry their own tense: drop the final い and the endings attach straight to the stem. No だ, no です needed to make a complete sentence.
See the full rules in the adjective conjugation guide.