遅い (osoi) conjugation
slow; (to be) late
遅い (おそい, osoi) 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 | 遅い osoi | 遅いです osoidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 遅くない osokunai | 遅くないです osokunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 遅かった osokatta | 遅かったです osokattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 遅くなかった osokunakatta | 遅くなかったです osokunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 遅くて osokute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 遅く osoku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 遅い〜 osoi〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 遅ければ osokereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 遅かったら osokattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 遅くなる osokunaru | 遅くなります osokunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 遅すぎる ososugiru | 遅すぎます ososugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 遅そう ososou | 遅そうです ososoudesu | “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.