憎い (nikui) conjugation
hateful, abominable, detestable
憎い (にくい, nikui) 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 | 憎い nikui | 憎いです nikuidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 憎くない nikukunai | 憎くないです nikukunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 憎かった nikukatta | 憎かったです nikukattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 憎くなかった nikukunakatta | 憎くなかったです nikukunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 憎くて nikukute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 憎く nikuku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 憎い〜 nikui〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 憎ければ nikukereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 憎かったら nikukattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 憎くなる nikukunaru | 憎くなります nikukunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 憎すぎる nikusugiru | 憎すぎます nikusugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 憎そう nikusou | 憎そうです nikusoudesu | “looks / seems ~” from appearance. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese word to hear it spoken.
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.