細かい (komakai) conjugation
small; fine, minute
細かい (こまかい, komakai) 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 | 細かい komakai | 細かいです komakaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 細かくない komakakunai | 細かくないです komakakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 細かかった komakakatta | 細かかったです komakakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 細かくなかった komakakunakatta | 細かくなかったです komakakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 細かくて komakakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 細かく komakaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 細かい〜 komakai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 細かければ komakakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 細かかったら komakakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 細かくなる komakakunaru | 細かくなります komakakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 細かすぎる komakasugiru | 細かすぎます komakasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 細かそう komakasou | 細かそうです komakasoudesu | “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.