変わる (kawaru) conjugation
to change (v.i.), to be transformed, to vary
変わる (かわる, kawaru) 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 | 変わる kawaru | 変わります kawarimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 変わらない kawaranai | 変わりません kawarimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 変わった kawatta | 変わりました kawarimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 変わらなかった kawaranakatta | 変わりませんでした kawarimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 変わって kawatte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 変わっている kawatteiru | 変わっています kawatteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 変わりたい kawaritai | 変わりたいです kawaritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 変わろう kawarou | 変わりましょう kawarimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 変われる kawareru | 変われます kawaremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 変わられる kawarareru | 変わられます kawararemasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 変わらせる kawaraseru | 変わらせます kawarasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 変わらされる kawarasareru | 変わらされます kawarasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 変われ kaware | 変わってください kawattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 変わるな kawaruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 変われば kawareba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 変わったら kawattara | — | “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.