ずるい (zurui) conjugation
sly, cunning
ずるい (ずるい, zurui) 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.
Written 狡い in kanji, but usually written in kana alone.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~です) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | ずるい zurui | ずるいです zuruidesu | The form you look up. Also the casual “is ~”. |
| Negative | ずるくない zurukunai | ずるくないです zurukunaidesu | “is not ~”. |
| Past | ずるかった zurukatta | ずるかったです zurukattadesu | “was ~”. |
| Past negative | ずるくなかった zurukunakatta | ずるくなかったです zurukunakattadesu | “was not ~”. |
| Te-form | ずるくて zurukute | — | Links to the next clause: “~ and …”. |
| Adverb | ずるく zuruku | — | Turns it into “~ly”, describing a verb. |
| Before a noun | ずるい〜 zurui〜 | — | How it attaches when it modifies a noun. |
| Conditional (~ば/なら) | ずるければ zurukereba | — | “if it is ~”. |
| Conditional (~たら) | ずるかったら zurukattara | — | “if / when it is ~”. The everyday conditional. |
| Become (~なる) | ずるくなる zurukunaru | ずるくなります zurukunarimasu | “becomes ~” — the change-of-state form. |
| Too much (~すぎる) | ずるすぎる zurusugiru | ずるすぎます zurusugimasu | “too ~”. |
| Looks ~ (~そう) | ずるそう zurusou | ずるそうです zurusoudesu | “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.