逆らう (sakarau) conjugation
to go against, to oppose, to disobey
逆らう (さからう, sakarau) 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 | 逆らう sakarau | 逆らいます sakaraimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 逆らわない sakarawanai | 逆らいません sakaraimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 逆らった sakaratta | 逆らいました sakaraimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 逆らわなかった sakarawanakatta | 逆らいませんでした sakaraimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 逆らって sakaratte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 逆らっている sakaratteiru | 逆らっています sakaratteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 逆らいたい sakaraitai | 逆らいたいです sakaraitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 逆らおう sakaraou | 逆らいましょう sakaraimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 逆らえる sakaraeru | 逆らえます sakaraemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 逆らわれる sakarawareru | 逆らわれます sakarawaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 逆らわせる sakarawaseru | 逆らわせます sakarawasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 逆らわされる sakarawasareru | 逆らわされます sakarawasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 逆らえ sakarae | 逆らってください sakarattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 逆らうな sakarauna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 逆らえば sakaraeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 逆らったら sakarattara | — | “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.