減る (heru) conjugation
to decrease (in size or number), to diminish
減る (へる, heru) 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 | 減る heru | 減ります herimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 減らない heranai | 減りません herimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 減った hetta | 減りました herimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 減らなかった heranakatta | 減りませんでした herimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 減って hette | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 減っている hetteiru | 減っています hetteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 減りたい heritai | 減りたいです heritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 減ろう herou | 減りましょう herimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 減れる hereru | 減れます heremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 減られる herareru | 減られます heraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 減らせる heraseru | 減らせます herasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 減らされる herasareru | 減らされます herasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 減れ here | 減ってください hettekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 減るな heruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 減れば hereba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 減ったら hettara | — | “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.