迫る (semaru) conjugation
to draw near, to press
迫る (せまる, semaru) 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 | 迫る semaru | 迫ります semarimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 迫らない semaranai | 迫りません semarimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 迫った sematta | 迫りました semarimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 迫らなかった semaranakatta | 迫りませんでした semarimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 迫って sematte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 迫っている sematteiru | 迫っています sematteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 迫りたい semaritai | 迫りたいです semaritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 迫ろう semarou | 迫りましょう semarimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 迫れる semareru | 迫れます semaremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 迫られる semarareru | 迫られます semararemasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 迫らせる semaraseru | 迫らせます semarasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 迫らされる semarasareru | 迫らされます semarasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 迫れ semare | 迫ってください semattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 迫るな semaruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 迫れば semareba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 迫ったら semattara | — | “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.