従う (shitagau) conjugation
to abide (by the rules), to obey
従う (したがう, shitagau) 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 | 従う shitagau | 従います shitagaimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 従わない shitagawanai | 従いません shitagaimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 従った shitagatta | 従いました shitagaimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 従わなかった shitagawanakatta | 従いませんでした shitagaimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 従って shitagatte | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 従っている shitagatteiru | 従っています shitagatteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 従いたい shitagaitai | 従いたいです shitagaitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 従おう shitagaou | 従いましょう shitagaimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 従える shitagaeru | 従えます shitagaemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 従われる shitagawareru | 従われます shitagawaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 従わせる shitagawaseru | 従わせます shitagawasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 従わされる shitagawasareru | 従わされます shitagawasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 従え shitagae | 従ってください shitagattekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 従うな shitagauna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 従えば shitagaeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 従ったら shitagattara | — | “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.