探す (sagasu) conjugation
to search, to seek, to look for
探す (さがす, sagasu) 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 | 探す sagasu | 探します sagashimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 探さない sagasanai | 探しません sagashimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 探した sagashita | 探しました sagashimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 探さなかった sagasanakatta | 探しませんでした sagashimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 探して sagashite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 探している sagashiteiru | 探しています sagashiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 探したい sagashitai | 探したいです sagashitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 探そう sagasou | 探しましょう sagashimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 探せる sagaseru | 探せます sagasemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 探される sagasareru | 探されます sagasaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 探させる sagasaseru | 探させます sagasasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 探させられる sagasaserareru | 探させられます sagasaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 探せ sagase | 探してください sagashitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 探すな sagasuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 探せば sagaseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 探したら sagashitara | — | “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.