言う (iu) conjugation
to say
言う (いう, iu) 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 | 言う iu | 言います iimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 言わない iwanai | 言いません iimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 言った itta | 言いました iimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 言わなかった iwanakatta | 言いませんでした iimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 言って itte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 言っている itteiru | 言っています itteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 言いたい iitai | 言いたいです iitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 言おう iou | 言いましょう iimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 言える ieru | 言えます iemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 言われる iwareru | 言われます iwaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 言わせる iwaseru | 言わせます iwasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 言わされる iwasareru | 言わされます iwasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 言え ie | 言ってください ittekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 言うな iuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 言えば ieba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 言ったら ittara | — | “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.