解く (toku) conjugation
to unfasten; answer, solve
解く (とく, toku) 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 | 解く toku | 解きます tokimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | 解かない tokanai | 解きません tokimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | 解いた toita | 解きました tokimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | 解かなかった tokanakatta | 解きませんでした tokimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | 解いて toite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | 解いている toiteiru | 解いています toiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | 解きたい tokitai | 解きたいです tokitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | 解こう tokou | 解きましょう tokimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | 解ける tokeru | 解けます tokemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | 解かれる tokareru | 解かれます tokaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | 解かせる tokaseru | 解かせます tokasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | 解かされる tokasareru | 解かされます tokasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | 解け toke | 解いてください toitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | 解くな tokuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | 解けば tokeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | 解いたら toitara | — | “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.