軽い (karui) conjugation
light, non-serious, minor
軽い (かるい, karui) 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 | 軽い karui | 軽いです karuidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 軽くない karukunai | 軽くないです karukunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 軽かった karukatta | 軽かったです karukattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 軽くなかった karukunakatta | 軽くなかったです karukunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 軽くて karukute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 軽く karuku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 軽い〜 karui〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 軽ければ karukereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 軽かったら karukattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 軽くなる karukunaru | 軽くなります karukunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 軽すぎる karusugiru | 軽すぎます karusugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 軽そう karusou | 軽そうです karusoudesu | “looks / seems ~” from appearance. |
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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.