ならう (narau) conjugation
to imitate, to follow, to emulate
ならう (ならう, narau) 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 倣う in kanji, but usually written in kana alone.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~ます) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | ならう narau | ならいます naraimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | ならわない narawanai | ならいません naraimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | ならった naratta | ならいました naraimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | ならわなかった narawanakatta | ならいませんでした naraimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | ならって naratte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | ならっている naratteiru | ならっています naratteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | ならいたい naraitai | ならいたいです naraitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | ならおう naraou | ならいましょう naraimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | ならえる naraeru | ならえます naraemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | ならわれる narawareru | ならわれます narawaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | ならわせる narawaseru | ならわせます narawasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | ならわされる narawasareru | ならわされます narawasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | ならえ narae | ならってください narattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | ならうな narauna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | ならえば naraeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | ならったら narattara | — | “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.