若い (wakai) conjugation
young
若い (わかい, wakai) 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 | 若い wakai | 若いです wakaidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | 若くない wakakunai | 若くないです wakakunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | 若かった wakakatta | 若かったです wakakattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | 若くなかった wakakunakatta | 若くなかったです wakakunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | 若くて wakakute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | 若く wakaku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | 若い〜 wakai〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | 若ければ wakakereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 若かったら wakakattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | 若くなる wakakunaru | 若くなります wakakunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | 若すぎる wakasugiru | 若すぎます wakasugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | 若そう wakasou | 若そうです wakasoudesu | “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.