狭い (semai) conjugation
narrow; not spacious
狭い (せまい, semai) 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 | 狭い semai | 狭いです semaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 狭くない semakunai | 狭くないです semakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 狭かった semakatta | 狭かったです semakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 狭くなかった semakunakatta | 狭くなかったです semakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 狭くて semakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 狭く semaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 狭い〜 semai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 狭ければ semakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 狭かったら semakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 狭くなる semakunaru | 狭くなります semakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 狭すぎる semasugiru | 狭すぎます semasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 狭そう semasou | 狭そうです semasoudesu | “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.