絡む (karamu) conjugation
to entangle, to entwine
絡む (からむ, karamu) 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 | 絡む karamu | 絡みます karamimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 絡まない karamanai | 絡みません karamimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 絡んだ karanda | 絡みました karamimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 絡まなかった karamanakatta | 絡みませんでした karamimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 絡んで karande | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 絡んでいる karandeiru | 絡んでいます karandeimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 絡みたい karamitai | 絡みたいです karamitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 絡もう karamou | 絡みましょう karamimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 絡める karameru | 絡めます karamemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 絡まれる karamareru | 絡まれます karamaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 絡ませる karamaseru | 絡ませます karamasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 絡まされる karamasareru | 絡まされます karamasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 絡め karame | 絡んでください karandekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 絡むな karamuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 絡めば karameba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 絡んだら karandara | — | “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.