惜しむ (oshimu) conjugation
to be frugal, to value, to regret
惜しむ (おしむ, oshimu) 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 | 惜しむ oshimu | 惜しみます oshimimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 惜しまない oshimanai | 惜しみません oshimimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 惜しんだ oshinda | 惜しみました oshimimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 惜しまなかった oshimanakatta | 惜しみませんでした oshimimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 惜しんで oshinde | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 惜しんでいる oshindeiru | 惜しんでいます oshindeimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 惜しみたい oshimitai | 惜しみたいです oshimitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 惜しもう oshimou | 惜しみましょう oshimimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 惜しめる oshimeru | 惜しめます oshimemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 惜しまれる oshimareru | 惜しまれます oshimaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 惜しませる oshimaseru | 惜しませます oshimasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 惜しまされる oshimasareru | 惜しまされます oshimasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 惜しめ oshime | 惜しんでください oshindekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 惜しむな oshimuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 惜しめば oshimeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 惜しんだら oshindara | — | “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.