話す (hanasu) conjugation
to speak
話す (はなす, hanasu) 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 | 話す hanasu | 話します hanashimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 話さない hanasanai | 話しません hanashimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 話した hanashita | 話しました hanashimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 話さなかった hanasanakatta | 話しませんでした hanashimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 話して hanashite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 話している hanashiteiru | 話しています hanashiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 話したい hanashitai | 話したいです hanashitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 話そう hanasou | 話しましょう hanashimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 話せる hanaseru | 話せます hanasemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 話される hanasareru | 話されます hanasaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 話させる hanasaseru | 話させます hanasasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 話させられる hanasaserareru | 話させられます hanasaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 話せ hanase | 話してください hanashitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 話すな hanasuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 話せば hanaseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 話したら hanashitara | — | “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.