つく (tsuku) conjugation
to be started, to be switched on
つく (つく, tsuku) 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.
Written 点く in kanji, but usually written in kana alone.
Conjugation table
| Form | Plain (casual) | Polite (~ます) | When you use it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dictionary / plain | つく tsuku | つきます tsukimasu | The form you look up. Also the casual present and future. |
| Plain negative | つかない tsukanai | つきません tsukimasen | “doesn’t / won’t”. From here it conjugates like an i-adjective. |
| Plain past | ついた tsuita | つきました tsukimashita | The casual past — same ending as the te-form, with た/だ. |
| Plain past negative | つかなかった tsukanakatta | つきませんでした tsukimasendeshita | “didn’t”. The negative past, still i-adjective-shaped. |
| Te-form | ついて tsuite | — | The connector: requests, linking clauses, ~ている. |
| Progressive (~ている) | ついている tsuiteiru | ついています tsuiteimasu | “is ~ing”, or an ongoing resulting state. |
| Desire (~たい) | つきたい tsukitai | つきたいです tsukitaidesu | “want to ~”. Behaves as an i-adjective. |
| Volitional | つこう tsukou | つきましょう tsukimashou | “let’s ~” / “I think I’ll ~”. |
| Potential | つける tsukeru | つけます tsukemasu | “can ~”. What you could do; the object often takes が. |
| Passive | つかれる tsukareru | つかれます tsukaremasu | “is ~ed”. Also the honorific and the suffering passive. |
| Causative | つかせる tsukaseru | つかせます tsukasemasu | Make or let someone do it. |
| Causative-passive | つかされる tsukasareru | つかされます tsukasaremasu | Be made to do it — the long one. |
| Imperative | つけ tsuke | ついてください tsuitekudasai | Blunt order. Use ~てください in real life. |
| Prohibitive | つくな tsukuna | — | “don’t!” — dictionary form + な. |
| Conditional (~ば) | つけば tsukeba | — | “if ~”. General rules and hypotheticals. |
| Conditional (~たら) | ついたら tsuitara | — | “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.