泳ぐ (oyogu) conjugation
to swim
泳ぐ (およぐ, oyogu) 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 | 泳ぐ oyogu | 泳ぎます oyogimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 泳がない oyoganai | 泳ぎません oyogimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 泳いだ oyoida | 泳ぎました oyogimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 泳がなかった oyoganakatta | 泳ぎませんでした oyogimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 泳いで oyoide | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 泳いでいる oyoideiru | 泳いでいます oyoideimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 泳ぎたい oyogitai | 泳ぎたいです oyogitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 泳ごう oyogou | 泳ぎましょう oyogimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 泳げる oyogeru | 泳げます oyogemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 泳がれる oyogareru | 泳がれます oyogaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 泳がせる oyogaseru | 泳がせます oyogasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 泳がされる oyogasareru | 泳がされます oyogasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 泳げ oyoge | 泳いでください oyoidekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 泳ぐな oyoguna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 泳げば oyogeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 泳いだら oyoidara | — | “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.