まく (maku) conjugation
to sow (seeds)
まく (まく, maku) 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.
Written 蒔く in kanji, but usually written in kana alone.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~ます) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | まく maku | まきます makimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | まかない makanai | まきません makimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | まいた maita | まきました makimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | まかなかった makanakatta | まきませんでした makimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | まいて maite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | まいている maiteiru | まいています maiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | まきたい makitai | まきたいです makitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | まこう makou | まきましょう makimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | まける makeru | まけます makemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | まかれる makareru | まかれます makaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | まかせる makaseru | まかせます makasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | まかされる makasareru | まかされます makasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | まけ make | まいてください maitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | まくな makuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | まけば makeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | まいたら maitara | — | “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.