悲しむ (kanashimu) conjugation
to be sad, to mourn for, to regret
悲しむ (かなしむ, kanashimu) 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 | 悲しむ kanashimu | 悲しみます kanashimimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 悲しまない kanashimanai | 悲しみません kanashimimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 悲しんだ kanashinda | 悲しみました kanashimimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 悲しまなかった kanashimanakatta | 悲しみませんでした kanashimimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 悲しんで kanashinde | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 悲しんでいる kanashindeiru | 悲しんでいます kanashindeimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 悲しみたい kanashimitai | 悲しみたいです kanashimitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 悲しもう kanashimou | 悲しみましょう kanashimimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 悲しめる kanashimeru | 悲しめます kanashimemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 悲しまれる kanashimareru | 悲しまれます kanashimaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 悲しませる kanashimaseru | 悲しませます kanashimasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 悲しまされる kanashimasareru | 悲しまされます kanashimasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 悲しめ kanashime | 悲しんでください kanashindekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 悲しむな kanashimuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 悲しめば kanashimeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 悲しんだら kanashindara | — | “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.