高い (takai) conjugation
tall, high; expensive
高い (たかい, takai) 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 | 高い takai | 高いです takaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 高くない takakunai | 高くないです takakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 高かった takakatta | 高かったです takakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 高くなかった takakunakatta | 高くなかったです takakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 高くて takakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 高く takaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 高い〜 takai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 高ければ takakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 高かったら takakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 高くなる takakunaru | 高くなります takakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 高すぎる takasugiru | 高すぎます takasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 高そう takasou | 高そうです takasoudesu | “looks / seems ~” from appearance. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese word to hear it spoken.
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.