嗅ぐ (kagu) conjugation
to sniff, to smell
嗅ぐ (かぐ, kagu) 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 | 嗅ぐ kagu | 嗅ぎます kagimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 嗅がない kaganai | 嗅ぎません kagimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 嗅いだ kaida | 嗅ぎました kagimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 嗅がなかった kaganakatta | 嗅ぎませんでした kagimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 嗅いで kaide | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 嗅いでいる kaideiru | 嗅いでいます kaideimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 嗅ぎたい kagitai | 嗅ぎたいです kagitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 嗅ごう kagou | 嗅ぎましょう kagimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 嗅げる kageru | 嗅げます kagemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 嗅がれる kagareru | 嗅がれます kagaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 嗅がせる kagaseru | 嗅がせます kagasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 嗅がされる kagasareru | 嗅がされます kagasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 嗅げ kage | 嗅いでください kaidekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 嗅ぐな kaguna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 嗅げば kageba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 嗅いだら kaidara | — | “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.