背く (somuku) conjugation
to run counter to, to go against
背く (そむく, somuku) 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 | 背く somuku | 背きます somukimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 背かない somukanai | 背きません somukimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 背いた somuita | 背きました somukimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 背かなかった somukanakatta | 背きませんでした somukimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 背いて somuite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 背いている somuiteiru | 背いています somuiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 背きたい somukitai | 背きたいです somukitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 背こう somukou | 背きましょう somukimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 背ける somukeru | 背けます somukemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 背かれる somukareru | 背かれます somukaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 背かせる somukaseru | 背かせます somukasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 背かされる somukasareru | 背かされます somukasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 背け somuke | 背いてください somuitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 背くな somukuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 背けば somukeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 背いたら somuitara | — | “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.