惜しい (oshii) conjugation
regrettable, disappointing
惜しい (おしい, oshii) 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 | 惜しい oshii | 惜しいです oshiidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 惜しくない oshikunai | 惜しくないです oshikunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 惜しかった oshikatta | 惜しかったです oshikattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 惜しくなかった oshikunakatta | 惜しくなかったです oshikunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 惜しくて oshikute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 惜しく oshiku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 惜しい〜 oshii〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 惜しければ oshikereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 惜しかったら oshikattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 惜しくなる oshikunaru | 惜しくなります oshikunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 惜しすぎる oshisugiru | 惜しすぎます oshisugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 惜しそう oshisou | 惜しそうです oshisoudesu | “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.