学ぶ (manabu) conjugation
to learn; to study
学ぶ (まなぶ, manabu) 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 | 学ぶ manabu | 学びます manabimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 学ばない manabanai | 学びません manabimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 学んだ mananda | 学びました manabimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 学ばなかった manabanakatta | 学びませんでした manabimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 学んで manande | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 学んでいる manandeiru | 学んでいます manandeimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 学びたい manabitai | 学びたいです manabitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 学ぼう manabou | 学びましょう manabimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 学べる manaberu | 学べます manabemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 学ばれる manabareru | 学ばれます manabaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 学ばせる manabaseru | 学ばせます manabasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 学ばされる manabasareru | 学ばされます manabasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 学べ manabe | 学んでください manandekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 学ぶな manabuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 学べば manabeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 学んだら manandara | — | “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.