増える: a quantity increasing. The examples use polite Japanese in everyday situations.
The idea
増える is an ichidan verb: remove final る before adding ます or て. The polite non-past, negative and past forms are 増えます、増えません、増えました. The て form is 増えて. The thing undergoing the change can be marked by が; an intransitive verb does not imply that there is no cause.
| Dictionary form | Polite non-past | Polite negative | Polite past | て form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 増える | 増えます | 増えません | 増えました | 増えて |
Examples
- この町は人が増えました。The number of people in this town has increased.
- 春になると、花が増えます。The number of flowers increases when spring comes.
- 図書館の本が年々増えています。The library’s books are increasing year by year.
- 雨の日は、バスの利用者が増えます。On rainy days, more people use the bus.
- 去年、店が二つ増えました。Two more shops appeared last year.
- 今月は注文が増えませんでした。Orders did not increase this month.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No Japanese device voice is available. You can still read the text and use the linked listening resources.
Watch out
増える describes the change; its transitive partner 増やす describes an action on something.
Try it yourself
（増える→ます）＿
Show answer or example answer
増えます
増えます is the polite non-past form; context can indicate a habit or a future event.
（増える→て）＿
Show answer or example answer
増えて
増えて is the て form; it can connect clauses.
人＿増えます。（が／を）
Show answer or example answer
が
が marks the subject undergoing the change.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Japanese sentences where available. We keep your score.
（増える→ます）＿
（増える→て）＿
人＿増えます。（が／を）
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
Sign up for free to save your practice results in your account.
Sign up to saveI already have an accountUse it today
Make an original sentence, change it to the polite past and identify its particle. Compare your sentence with the examples.