表す (arawasu) conjugation
to express, to show
表す (あらわす, arawasu) 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 | 表す arawasu | 表します arawashimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 表さない arawasanai | 表しません arawashimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 表した arawashita | 表しました arawashimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 表さなかった arawasanakatta | 表しませんでした arawashimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 表して arawashite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 表している arawashiteiru | 表しています arawashiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 表したい arawashitai | 表したいです arawashitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 表そう arawasou | 表しましょう arawashimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 表せる arawaseru | 表せます arawasemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 表される arawasareru | 表されます arawasaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 表させる arawasaseru | 表させます arawasasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 表させられる arawasaserareru | 表させられます arawasaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 表せ arawase | 表してください arawashitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 表すな arawasuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 表せば arawaseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 表したら arawashitara | — | “if / when ~”. The everyday conditional. |
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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.