幼い (osanai) conjugation
very young, childish
幼い (おさない, osanai) 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 | 幼い osanai | 幼いです osanaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 幼くない osanakunai | 幼くないです osanakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 幼かった osanakatta | 幼かったです osanakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 幼くなかった osanakunakatta | 幼くなかったです osanakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 幼くて osanakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 幼く osanaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 幼い〜 osanai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 幼ければ osanakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 幼かったら osanakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 幼くなる osanakunaru | 幼くなります osanakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 幼すぎる osanasugiru | 幼すぎます osanasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 幼そう osanasou | 幼そうです osanasoudesu | “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.