賢い (kashikoi) conjugation
wise, clever, smart
賢い (かしこい, kashikoi) 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 | 賢い kashikoi | 賢いです kashikoidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 賢くない kashikokunai | 賢くないです kashikokunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 賢かった kashikokatta | 賢かったです kashikokattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 賢くなかった kashikokunakatta | 賢くなかったです kashikokunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 賢くて kashikokute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 賢く kashikoku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 賢い〜 kashikoi〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 賢ければ kashikokereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 賢かったら kashikokattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 賢くなる kashikokunaru | 賢くなります kashikokunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 賢すぎる kashikosugiru | 賢すぎます kashikosugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 賢そう kashikosou | 賢そうです kashikosoudesu | “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.