怖い (kowai) conjugation
scary, frightening
怖い (こわい, kowai) 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 | 怖い kowai | 怖いです kowaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 怖くない kowakunai | 怖くないです kowakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 怖かった kowakatta | 怖かったです kowakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 怖くなかった kowakunakatta | 怖くなかったです kowakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 怖くて kowakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 怖く kowaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 怖い〜 kowai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 怖ければ kowakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 怖かったら kowakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 怖くなる kowakunaru | 怖くなります kowakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 怖すぎる kowasugiru | 怖すぎます kowasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 怖そう kowasou | 怖そうです kowasoudesu | “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.