薄い (usui) conjugation
thin, weak
薄い (うすい, usui) 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 | 薄い usui | 薄いです usuidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 薄くない usukunai | 薄くないです usukunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 薄かった usukatta | 薄かったです usukattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 薄くなかった usukunakatta | 薄くなかったです usukunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 薄くて usukute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 薄く usuku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 薄い〜 usui〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 薄ければ usukereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 薄かったら usukattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 薄くなる usukunaru | 薄くなります usukunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 薄すぎる ususugiru | 薄すぎます ususugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 薄そう ususou | 薄そうです ususoudesu | “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.