清い (kiyoi) conjugation
clear, pure, noble
清い (きよい, kiyoi) 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 | 清い kiyoi | 清いです kiyoidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 清くない kiyokunai | 清くないです kiyokunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 清かった kiyokatta | 清かったです kiyokattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 清くなかった kiyokunakatta | 清くなかったです kiyokunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 清くて kiyokute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 清く kiyoku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 清い〜 kiyoi〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 清ければ kiyokereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 清かったら kiyokattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 清くなる kiyokunaru | 清くなります kiyokunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 清すぎる kiyosugiru | 清すぎます kiyosugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 清そう kiyosou | 清そうです kiyosoudesu | “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.