少ない (sukunai) conjugation
a little; a few
少ない (すくない, sukunai) 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 | 少ない sukunai | 少ないです sukunaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 少なくない sukunakunai | 少なくないです sukunakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 少なかった sukunakatta | 少なかったです sukunakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 少なくなかった sukunakunakatta | 少なくなかったです sukunakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 少なくて sukunakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 少なく sukunaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 少ない〜 sukunai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 少なければ sukunakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 少なかったら sukunakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 少なくなる sukunakunaru | 少なくなります sukunakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 少なすぎる sukunasugiru | 少なすぎます sukunasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 少なそう sukunasou | 少なそうです sukunasoudesu | “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.