壊す (kowasu) conjugation
to break, to break down
壊す (こわす, kowasu) 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 | 壊す kowasu | 壊します kowashimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 壊さない kowasanai | 壊しません kowashimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 壊した kowashita | 壊しました kowashimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 壊さなかった kowasanakatta | 壊しませんでした kowashimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 壊して kowashite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 壊している kowashiteiru | 壊しています kowashiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 壊したい kowashitai | 壊したいです kowashitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 壊そう kowasou | 壊しましょう kowashimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 壊せる kowaseru | 壊せます kowasemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 壊される kowasareru | 壊されます kowasaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 壊させる kowasaseru | 壊させます kowasasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 壊させられる kowasaserareru | 壊させられます kowasaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 壊せ kowase | 壊してください kowashitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 壊すな kowasuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 壊せば kowaseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 壊したら kowashitara | — | “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.