劣る (otoru) conjugation
to fall behind, to be inferior to
劣る (おとる, otoru) 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 | 劣る otoru | 劣ります otorimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 劣らない otoranai | 劣りません otorimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 劣った ototta | 劣りました otorimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 劣らなかった otoranakatta | 劣りませんでした otorimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 劣って ototte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 劣っている ototteiru | 劣っています ototteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 劣りたい otoritai | 劣りたいです otoritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 劣ろう otorou | 劣りましょう otorimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 劣れる otoreru | 劣れます otoremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 劣られる otorareru | 劣られます otoraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 劣らせる otoraseru | 劣らせます otorasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 劣らされる otorasareru | 劣らされます otorasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 劣れ otore | 劣ってください otottekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 劣るな otoruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 劣れば otoreba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 劣ったら otottara | — | “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.