進む (susumu) conjugation
to advance, to proceed
進む (すすむ, susumu) 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 | 進む susumu | 進みます susumimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 進まない susumanai | 進みません susumimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 進んだ susunda | 進みました susumimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 進まなかった susumanakatta | 進みませんでした susumimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 進んで susunde | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 進んでいる susundeiru | 進んでいます susundeimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 進みたい susumitai | 進みたいです susumitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 進もう susumou | 進みましょう susumimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 進める susumeru | 進めます susumemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 進まれる susumareru | 進まれます susumaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 進ませる susumaseru | 進ませます susumasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 進まされる susumasareru | 進まされます susumasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 進め susume | 進んでください susundekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 進むな susumuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 進めば susumeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 進んだら susundara | — | “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.