知る (shiru) conjugation
to know, to understand
知る (しる, shiru) 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 | 知る shiru | 知ります shirimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 知らない shiranai | 知りません shirimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 知った shitta | 知りました shirimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 知らなかった shiranakatta | 知りませんでした shirimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 知って shitte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 知っている shitteiru | 知っています shitteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 知りたい shiritai | 知りたいです shiritaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 知ろう shirou | 知りましょう shirimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 知れる shireru | 知れます shiremasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 知られる shirareru | 知られます shiraremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 知らせる shiraseru | 知らせます shirasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 知らされる shirasareru | 知らされます shirasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 知れ shire | 知ってください shittekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 知るな shiruna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 知れば shireba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 知ったら shittara | — | “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.