Understanding Japanese Past Tense
In Japanese, verbs change their form to show when something happened, just like in English. The past tense tells us that something already happened. Let's learn how to use it!
How to Form the Past Tense
Important Points
- For verbs ending in る (ru), like たべる (taberu), change る to た: たべる becomes たべた.
- For verbs ending in う (u), change う to った: いう (iu) becomes いった.
- For verbs ending in く (ku), change く to いた: かく (kaku) becomes かいた.
- For verbs ending in ぐ (gu), change ぐ to いだ: およぐ (oyogu) becomes およいだ.
- For verbs ending in す (su), change す to した: はなす (hanasu) becomes はなした.
- For verbs ending in つ (tsu) or る (ru) (not る verbs like たべる), change to った: まつ (matsu) becomes まった.
- For verbs ending in む (mu), ぶ (bu), or ぬ (nu), change to んだ: よむ (yomu) becomes よんだ.
- Irregular verbs like する (suru) and くる (kuru) have special past forms: する becomes した and くる becomes きた.
Examples of Past Tense Usage
Examples
- 昨日、りんごをたべた。 (Yesterday, I ate an apple.)
- 友達にあった。 (I met a friend.)
- 本をよんだ。 (I read a book.)
Using Past Tense with Adjectives
Adjectives can also show past tense. Let's see how!
Important Points
- For い-adjectives, change い to かった: たのしい (tanoshii) becomes たのしかった.
- For な-adjectives, add だった: しずか (shizuka) becomes しずかだった.
Examples
- 昨日はたのしかった。 (Yesterday was fun.)
- 部屋がしずかだった。 (The room was quiet.)