頑張る (ganbaru) conjugation
to try one's best, to try hard, to persist
頑張る (がんばる, ganbaru) 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 | 頑張る ganbaru | 頑張ります ganbarimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 頑張らない ganbaranai | 頑張りません ganbarimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 頑張った ganbatta | 頑張りました ganbarimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 頑張らなかった ganbaranakatta | 頑張りませんでした ganbarimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 頑張って ganbatte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 頑張っている ganbatteiru | 頑張っています ganbatteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 頑張りたい ganbaritai | 頑張りたいです ganbaritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 頑張ろう ganbarou | 頑張りましょう ganbarimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 頑張れる ganbareru | 頑張れます ganbaremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 頑張られる ganbarareru | 頑張られます ganbararemasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 頑張らせる ganbaraseru | 頑張らせます ganbarasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 頑張らされる ganbarasareru | 頑張らされます ganbarasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 頑張れ ganbare | 頑張ってください ganbattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 頑張るな ganbaruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 頑張れば ganbareba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 頑張ったら ganbattara | — | “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.