違う (chigau) conjugation
to be different; to differ; wrong
違う (ちがう, chigau) 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 | 違う chigau | 違います chigaimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 違わない chigawanai | 違いません chigaimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 違った chigatta | 違いました chigaimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 違わなかった chigawanakatta | 違いませんでした chigaimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 違って chigatte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 違っている chigatteiru | 違っています chigatteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 違いたい chigaitai | 違いたいです chigaitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 違おう chigaou | 違いましょう chigaimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 違える chigaeru | 違えます chigaemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 違われる chigawareru | 違われます chigawaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 違わせる chigawaseru | 違わせます chigawasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 違わされる chigawasareru | 違わされます chigawasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 違え chigae | 違ってください chigattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 違うな chigauna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 違えば chigaeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 違ったら chigattara | — | “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.