争う (arasou) conjugation
to dispute, to argue, to fight
争う (あらそう, arasou) is a godan verb. Godan verbs change their final kana up and down its column of the kana chart — the a-row for negatives, the i-row before ます, the e-row for potential and ば. Every form below is tappable — hear it, then say it back.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~ます) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | 争う arasou | 争います arasoimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 争わない arasowanai | 争いません arasoimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 争った arasotta | 争いました arasoimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 争わなかった arasowanakatta | 争いませんでした arasoimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 争って arasotte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 争っている arasotteiru | 争っています arasotteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 争いたい arasoitai | 争いたいです arasoitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 争おう arasoou | 争いましょう arasoimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 争える arasoeru | 争えます arasoemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 争われる arasowareru | 争われます arasowaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 争わせる arasowaseru | 争わせます arasowasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 争わされる arasowasareru | 争わされます arasowasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 争え arasoe | 争ってください arasottekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 争うな arasouna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 争えば arasoeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 争ったら arasottara | — | “if / when ~”. The everyday conditional. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese word to hear it spoken.
Why it conjugates this way
Godan verbs change their final kana up and down its column of the kana chart — the a-row for negatives, the i-row before ます, the e-row for potential and ば.
See the full rules on the verb conjugation guide.