握る (nigiru) conjugation
to grasp, to seize, to mold sushi
握る (にぎる, nigiru) 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 | 握る nigiru | 握ります nigirimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 握らない nigiranai | 握りません nigirimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 握った nigitta | 握りました nigirimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 握らなかった nigiranakatta | 握りませんでした nigirimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 握って nigitte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 握っている nigitteiru | 握っています nigitteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 握りたい nigiritai | 握りたいです nigiritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 握ろう nigirou | 握りましょう nigirimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 握れる nigireru | 握れます nigiremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 握られる nigirareru | 握られます nigiraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 握らせる nigiraseru | 握らせます nigirasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 握らされる nigirasareru | 握らされます nigirasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 握れ nigire | 握ってください nigittekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 握るな nigiruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 握れば nigireba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 握ったら nigittara | — | “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.