短い (mijikai) conjugation
short (length)
短い (みじかい, mijikai) 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 | 短い mijikai | 短いです mijikaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 短くない mijikakunai | 短くないです mijikakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 短かった mijikakatta | 短かったです mijikakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 短くなかった mijikakunakatta | 短くなかったです mijikakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 短くて mijikakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 短く mijikaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 短い〜 mijikai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 短ければ mijikakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 短かったら mijikakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 短くなる mijikakunaru | 短くなります mijikakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 短すぎる mijikasugiru | 短すぎます mijikasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 短そう mijikasou | 短そうです mijikasoudesu | “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.