守る (mamoru) conjugation
to protect; to abide (by the rules)
守る (まもる, mamoru) 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 | 守る mamoru | 守ります mamorimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 守らない mamoranai | 守りません mamorimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 守った mamotta | 守りました mamorimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 守らなかった mamoranakatta | 守りませんでした mamorimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 守って mamotte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 守っている mamotteiru | 守っています mamotteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 守りたい mamoritai | 守りたいです mamoritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 守ろう mamorou | 守りましょう mamorimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 守れる mamoreru | 守れます mamoremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 守られる mamorareru | 守られます mamoraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 守らせる mamoraseru | 守らせます mamorasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 守らされる mamorasareru | 守らされます mamorasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 守れ mamore | 守ってください mamottekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 守るな mamoruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 守れば mamoreba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 守ったら mamottara | — | “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.