In this lesson I will touch on the past tense of Japanese for verbs, nouns, na-adjectives and i-adjectives.
So far you have come across the positive and negative forms for Japanese verbs in a verb sentence.
For example, the positive or affirmative form of "to eat" is たべます (tabemasu) and the negative form is たべません (tabemasen).
Positive or Affirmative form of Japanese verb is known as ます-form (masu-form). masu-form of Japanese verb is also normally considered as the polite-form.
When talking to strangers, Japanese usually speak in masu-form in order to be polite.
To learn about past tense of Japanese verbs, you need to first know about "stem of masu-form". Stem of masu-form is actually the word before ます (masu).
For example in the above case of the verb "to eat", the stem of masu-form is たべ (tabe). For the verb いきます (ikimasu), the stem of masu-form is いき (iki).
masu-form is actually derived from dictionary-form of verbs but I will go through dictionary-form in next few lessons. For now please take a look at the following expressions to see how to form past tense of Japanese verbs...
Present Affirmative: | Verb {stem of ます-form} ます |
Present Negative: | Verb {stem of ます-form} ません |
Past Affirmative: | Verb {stem of ます-form} ました |
Past Negative: | Verb {stem of ます-form} ませんでした |
From the above expressions, the past affirmative form of the verb "to eat" is たべました (tabemashita). The past negative form is たべませんでした (tabemasen deshita).
Let's make some sentences using (Affirmative) past tense of Japanese verbs...
The following sentences are using (Negative) past tense of Japanese verbs...
Past tense of Japanese nouns is quite straight forward. You just need to append different suffixes to the noun as you can see in the following expressions...
Present Affirmative: | Noun です |
Present Negative: | Noun ではありません |
Past Affirmative: | Noun でした |
Past Negative: | Noun ではありませんでした |
Let's use one simple example to demonstrate how to make sentences using the above expressions.
Assuming Mr Tanaka is working as a teacher now. But he was an office worker last year. And the year before last year he was still a student. Using this information, we can make these sentences...
Let's take a look at another example. Assuming today is a sunny day in Tokyo. However the weather was cloudy yesterday. And the day before yesterday was a rainy day. You should be able to make sentences using this information...
Past tense of Japanese na-adjectives is exactly the same as that for Japanese nouns. Therefore you can simply use the same expressions as the following...
Present Affirmative: | な-Adjective です |
Present Negative: | な-Adjective ではありません |
Past Affirmative: | な-Adjective でした |
Past Negative: | な-Adjective ではありませんでした |
Assume that you are living in a town which is very busy and lively now, but it was quiet in the past. Using this information, you can make the following sentences using past tense of na-adjectives...
Past tense of Japanese i-adjectives needs some modifications to the suffixes.
For past affirmative form, remove the い (i) in the い-adjective and replace it with かったです (katta desu).
For past negative form, remove the い (i) in the い-adjective and replace it with くなかったです (kunakatta desu) or くありませんでした (kuarimasen deshita).
Check with the following expressions...
Present Affirmative: | い-Adjective {~い} です |
Present Negative: | い-Adjective {~ |
Present Negative: | い-Adjective {~ |
Past Affirmative: | い-Adjective {~ |
Past Negative: | い-Adjective {~ |
Past Negative: | い-Adjective {~ |
Assume that last week's exam was kind of easy. How do you say it in Japanese using the above expressions?
What if the exam was difficult? How do you say that?
Lesson 26: Japanese Past Tense in Plain Form.
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Next - Lesson 18: Japanese Verbs
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