語る (kataru) conjugation
to talk, to tell, to recite
語る (かたる, kataru) 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 | 語る kataru | 語ります katarimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 語らない kataranai | 語りません katarimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 語った katatta | 語りました katarimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 語らなかった kataranakatta | 語りませんでした katarimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 語って katatte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 語っている katatteiru | 語っています katatteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 語りたい kataritai | 語りたいです kataritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 語ろう katarou | 語りましょう katarimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 語れる katareru | 語れます kataremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 語られる katarareru | 語られます katararemasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 語らせる kataraseru | 語らせます katarasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 語らされる katarasareru | 語らされます katarasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 語れ katare | 語ってください katattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 語るな kataruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 語れば katareba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 語ったら katattara | — | “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.