試す (tamesu) conjugation
to attempt, to test
試す (ためす, tamesu) 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 | 試す tamesu | 試します tameshimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 試さない tamesanai | 試しません tameshimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 試した tameshita | 試しました tameshimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 試さなかった tamesanakatta | 試しませんでした tameshimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 試して tameshite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 試している tameshiteiru | 試しています tameshiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 試したい tameshitai | 試したいです tameshitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 試そう tamesou | 試しましょう tameshimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 試せる tameseru | 試せます tamesemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 試される tamesareru | 試されます tamesaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 試させる tamesaseru | 試させます tamesasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 試させられる tamesaserareru | 試させられます tamesaseraremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 試せ tamese | 試してください tameshitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 試すな tamesuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 試せば tameseba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 試したら tameshitara | — | “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.