生かす (ikasu) conjugation
to keep something alive; to make use of
生かす (いかす, ikasu) 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 | 生かす ikasu | 生かします ikashimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 生かさない ikasanai | 生かしません ikashimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 生かした ikashita | 生かしました ikashimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 生かさなかった ikasanakatta | 生かしませんでした ikashimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 生かして ikashite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 生かしている ikashiteiru | 生かしています ikashiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 生かしたい ikashitai | 生かしたいです ikashitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 生かそう ikasou | 生かしましょう ikashimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 生かせる ikaseru | 生かせます ikasemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 生かされる ikasareru | 生かされます ikasaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 生かさせる ikasaseru | 生かさせます ikasasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 生かさせられる ikasaserareru | 生かさせられます ikasaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 生かせ ikase | 生かしてください ikashitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 生かすな ikasuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 生かせば ikaseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 生かしたら ikashitara | — | “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.