空しい (munashii) conjugation
vacant, futile, vain
空しい (むなしい, munashii) 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 | 空しい munashii | 空しいです munashiidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 空しくない munashikunai | 空しくないです munashikunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 空しかった munashikatta | 空しかったです munashikattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 空しくなかった munashikunakatta | 空しくなかったです munashikunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 空しくて munashikute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 空しく munashiku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 空しい〜 munashii〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 空しければ munashikereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 空しかったら munashikattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 空しくなる munashikunaru | 空しくなります munashikunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 空しすぎる munashisugiru | 空しすぎます munashisugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 空しそう munashisou | 空しそうです munashisoudesu | “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.