厳しい (kibishii) conjugation
hard; rigorous; strict
厳しい (きびしい, kibishii) 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 | 厳しい kibishii | 厳しいです kibishiidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 厳しくない kibishikunai | 厳しくないです kibishikunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 厳しかった kibishikatta | 厳しかったです kibishikattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 厳しくなかった kibishikunakatta | 厳しくなかったです kibishikunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 厳しくて kibishikute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 厳しく kibishiku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 厳しい〜 kibishii〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 厳しければ kibishikereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 厳しかったら kibishikattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 厳しくなる kibishikunaru | 厳しくなります kibishikunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 厳しすぎる kibishisugiru | 厳しすぎます kibishisugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 厳しそう kibishisou | 厳しそうです kibishisoudesu | “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.