寂しい (sabishii) conjugation
lonely, lonesome
寂しい (さびしい, sabishii) 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 | 寂しい sabishii | 寂しいです sabishiidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 寂しくない sabishikunai | 寂しくないです sabishikunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 寂しかった sabishikatta | 寂しかったです sabishikattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 寂しくなかった sabishikunakatta | 寂しくなかったです sabishikunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 寂しくて sabishikute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 寂しく sabishiku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 寂しい〜 sabishii〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 寂しければ sabishikereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 寂しかったら sabishikattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 寂しくなる sabishikunaru | 寂しくなります sabishikunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 寂しすぎる sabishisugiru | 寂しすぎます sabishisugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 寂しそう sabishisou | 寂しそうです sabishisoudesu | “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.