懐かしい (natsukashii) conjugation
dear, desired, missed
懐かしい (なつかしい, natsukashii) 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 | 懐かしい natsukashii | 懐かしいです natsukashiidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 懐かしくない natsukashikunai | 懐かしくないです natsukashikunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 懐かしかった natsukashikatta | 懐かしかったです natsukashikattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 懐かしくなかった natsukashikunakatta | 懐かしくなかったです natsukashikunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 懐かしくて natsukashikute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 懐かしく natsukashiku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 懐かしい〜 natsukashii〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 懐かしければ natsukashikereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 懐かしかったら natsukashikattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 懐かしくなる natsukashikunaru | 懐かしくなります natsukashikunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 懐かしすぎる natsukashisugiru | 懐かしすぎます natsukashisugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 懐かしそう natsukashisou | 懐かしそうです natsukashisoudesu | “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.