祈る (inoru) conjugation
to pray; to wish
祈る (いのる, inoru) 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 | 祈る inoru | 祈ります inorimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 祈らない inoranai | 祈りません inorimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 祈った inotta | 祈りました inorimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 祈らなかった inoranakatta | 祈りませんでした inorimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 祈って inotte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 祈っている inotteiru | 祈っています inotteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 祈りたい inoritai | 祈りたいです inoritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 祈ろう inorou | 祈りましょう inorimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 祈れる inoreru | 祈れます inoremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 祈られる inorareru | 祈られます inoraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 祈らせる inoraseru | 祈らせます inorasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 祈らされる inorasareru | 祈らされます inorasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 祈れ inore | 祈ってください inottekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 祈るな inoruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 祈れば inoreba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 祈ったら inottara | — | “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.