選ぶ (erabu) conjugation
to choose; to select
選ぶ (えらぶ, erabu) 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 | 選ぶ erabu | 選びます erabimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 選ばない erabanai | 選びません erabimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 選んだ eranda | 選びました erabimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 選ばなかった erabanakatta | 選びませんでした erabimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 選んで erande | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 選んでいる erandeiru | 選んでいます erandeimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 選びたい erabitai | 選びたいです erabitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 選ぼう erabou | 選びましょう erabimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 選べる eraberu | 選べます erabemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 選ばれる erabareru | 選ばれます erabaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 選ばせる erabaseru | 選ばせます erabasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 選ばされる erabasareru | 選ばされます erabasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 選べ erabe | 選んでください erandekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 選ぶな erabuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 選べば erabeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 選んだら erandara | — | “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.