くわえる (kuwaeru) conjugation
to hold something in the mouth
くわえる (くわえる, kuwaeru) is an ichidan verb. Ichidan verbs are the tidy ones: drop the final る and add the ending. Nothing inside the word ever changes. Every form below is tappable — hear it, then say it back.
Written 咥える in kanji, but usually written in kana alone.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~ます) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | くわえる kuwaeru | くわえます kuwaemasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | くわえない kuwaenai | くわえません kuwaemasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | くわえた kuwaeta | くわえました kuwaemashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | くわえなかった kuwaenakatta | くわえませんでした kuwaemasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | くわえて kuwaete | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | くわえている kuwaeteiru | くわえています kuwaeteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | くわえたい kuwaetai | くわえたいです kuwaetaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | くわえよう kuwaeyou | くわえましょう kuwaemashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | くわえられる kuwaerareru | くわえられます kuwaeraremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | くわえられる kuwaerareru | くわえられます kuwaeraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | くわえさせる kuwaesaseru | くわえさせます kuwaesasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | くわえさせられる kuwaesaserareru | くわえさせられます kuwaesaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | くわえろ kuwaero | くわえてください kuwaetekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | くわえるな kuwaeruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | くわえれば kuwaereba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | くわえたら kuwaetara | — | “if / when ~”. The everyday conditional. |
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Why it conjugates this way
Ichidan verbs are the tidy ones: drop the final る and add the ending. Nothing inside the word ever changes.
See the full rules on the verb conjugation guide.