切ない (setsunai) conjugation
painful, trying, sad
切ない (せつない, setsunai) 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 | 切ない setsunai | 切ないです setsunaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 切なくない setsunakunai | 切なくないです setsunakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 切なかった setsunakatta | 切なかったです setsunakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 切なくなかった setsunakunakatta | 切なくなかったです setsunakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 切なくて setsunakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 切なく setsunaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 切ない〜 setsunai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 切なければ setsunakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 切なかったら setsunakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 切なくなる setsunakunaru | 切なくなります setsunakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 切なすぎる setsunasugiru | 切なすぎます setsunasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 切なそう setsunasou | 切なそうです setsunasoudesu | “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.