探る (saguru) conjugation
to search, to look for, investigate
探る (さぐる, saguru) 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 | 探る saguru | 探ります sagurimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 探らない saguranai | 探りません sagurimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 探った sagutta | 探りました sagurimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 探らなかった saguranakatta | 探りませんでした sagurimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 探って sagutte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 探っている sagutteiru | 探っています sagutteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 探りたい saguritai | 探りたいです saguritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 探ろう sagurou | 探りましょう sagurimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 探れる sagureru | 探れます saguremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 探られる sagurareru | 探られます saguraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 探らせる saguraseru | 探らせます sagurasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 探らされる sagurasareru | 探らされます sagurasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 探れ sagure | 探ってください saguttekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 探るな saguruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 探れば sagureba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 探ったら saguttara | — | “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.