Katsuyo

い-adjective

辛いつらい

tsurai

painful · N3

辛い (つらい, tsurai) — painful — is an -adjective: つらかった (past), つらくない (negative), つらくて (te-form), つらいです (polite).

It is usually written in kana: つらい rather than 辛い. It also means bitter; heart-breaking.

How つらい conjugates · -adjective

Drop the final , then add the ending.

Every form is built on the stem つら. The one that isn't: the polite present, which is the whole word plus です.

つら dropsstem + ending
つらかったつらかったpast · It was painful. つらくないつらくないnegative · It isn't painful. つらくてつらくてte-form · It's painful and … つらければつらければif · If it's painful, ... つらいですつらいですpolite presentkeeps the い

Every -adjective works this way. The one exception is いい, which conjugates from its older form よい.

N5 N tags give the JLPT level at which the game starts quizzing a form.

PLAIN

FormConjugationAudio
present N5 つらい 辛い tsurai
past N5 It was painful. つらかった 辛かった tsurakatta
negative N5 It isn't painful. つらくない 辛くない tsurakunai
te-form N5 It's painful and … つらくて 辛くて tsurakute
past negative N4 It wasn't painful. つらくなかった 辛くなかった tsurakunakatta
cond. ば N3 If it's painful, ... つらければ 辛ければ tsurakereba
cond. たら N3 If it turns out painful, ... つらかったら 辛かったら tsurakattara

POLITE

FormConjugationAudio
present N5 つらいです 辛いです tsuraidesu
past N5 It was painful. つらかったです 辛かったです tsurakattadesu
negative N5 It isn't painful. つらくないです 辛くないです tsurakunaidesu
past negative N4 It wasn't painful. つらくなかったです 辛くなかったです tsurakunakattadesu