思う (omou) conjugation
to think, to feel
思う (おもう, omou) 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 | 思う omou | 思います omoimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 思わない omowanai | 思いません omoimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 思った omotta | 思いました omoimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 思わなかった omowanakatta | 思いませんでした omoimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 思って omotte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 思っている omotteiru | 思っています omotteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 思いたい omoitai | 思いたいです omoitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 思おう omoou | 思いましょう omoimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 思える omoeru | 思えます omoemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 思われる omowareru | 思われます omowaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 思わせる omowaseru | 思わせます omowasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 思わされる omowasareru | 思わされます omowasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 思え omoe | 思ってください omottekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 思うな omouna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 思えば omoeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 思ったら omottara | — | “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.