い-adjective
上手いうまい
umai上手い (うまい, umai) — skillful — is an い-adjective: うまかった (past), うまくない (negative), うまくて (te-form), うまいです (polite).
It is usually written in kana: うまい rather than 上手い. It also means skilful; skilled.
How うまい conjugates · い-adjective
Drop the final い, then add the ending.
Every form is built on the stem うま. The one that isn't: the polite present, which is the whole word plus です.
うまい
dropsstem + ending
うまかったうまかったpast · It was skilful.
うまくないうまくないnegative · It isn't skilful.
うまくてうまくてte-form · It's skilful and …
うまければうまければif · If it's skilful, ...
うまいですうまいですpolite presentkeeps the い
Every い-adjective works this way. The one exception is いい, which conjugates from its older form よい.
N3 N tags give the JLPT level at which the game starts quizzing a form.
PLAIN
| Form | Conjugation | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| present | うまい 上手い umai | |
| past It was skilful. | うまかった 上手かった umakatta | |
| negative It isn't skilful. | うまくない 上手くない umakunai | |
| te-form It's skilful and … | うまくて 上手くて umakute | |
| past negative It wasn't skilful. | うまくなかった 上手くなかった umakunakatta | |
| cond. ば N3 If it's skilful, ... | うまければ 上手ければ umakereba | |
| cond. たら N3 If it turns out skilful, ... | うまかったら 上手かったら umakattara |
POLITE
| Form | Conjugation | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| present | うまいです 上手いです umaidesu | |
| past It was skilful. | うまかったです 上手かったです umakattadesu | |
| negative It isn't skilful. | うまくないです 上手くないです umakunaidesu | |
| past negative It wasn't skilful. | うまくなかったです 上手くなかったです umakunakattadesu |