貧しい (mazushii) conjugation
poor, needy
貧しい (まずしい, mazushii) 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 | 貧しい mazushii | 貧しいです mazushiidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 貧しくない mazushikunai | 貧しくないです mazushikunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 貧しかった mazushikatta | 貧しかったです mazushikattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 貧しくなかった mazushikunakatta | 貧しくなかったです mazushikunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 貧しくて mazushikute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 貧しく mazushiku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 貧しい〜 mazushii〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 貧しければ mazushikereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 貧しかったら mazushikattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 貧しくなる mazushikunaru | 貧しくなります mazushikunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 貧しすぎる mazushisugiru | 貧しすぎます mazushisugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 貧しそう mazushisou | 貧しそうです mazushisoudesu | “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.