刺す (sasu) conjugation
to sting, to bite (e.g., bug), to prick, to stab
刺す (さす, sasu) 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 | 刺す sasu | 刺します sashimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 刺さない sasanai | 刺しません sashimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 刺した sashita | 刺しました sashimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 刺さなかった sasanakatta | 刺しませんでした sashimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 刺して sashite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 刺している sashiteiru | 刺しています sashiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 刺したい sashitai | 刺したいです sashitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 刺そう sasou | 刺しましょう sashimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 刺せる saseru | 刺せます sasemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 刺される sasareru | 刺されます sasaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 刺させる sasaseru | 刺させます sasasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 刺させられる sasaserareru | 刺させられます sasaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 刺せ sase | 刺してください sashitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 刺すな sasuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 刺せば saseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 刺したら sashitara | — | “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.