N4 · Verbs
The plain past
the ta-form: た and なかった
The te-form with た in place of て — the casual past, and the base of a whole family of patterns.
If you can make the te-form, you can make the plain past: replace て with た and で with だ. 書いて → 書いた, 飲んで → 飲んだ, 行って → 行った, 来て → 来た. Every sound change, and the exception for 行く, carries over unchanged.
The plain past negative starts from the ない-form. Because ない behaves like an i-adjective, its past is なかった: 行かなかった "did not go", 食べなかった "did not eat", しなかった, 来なかった.
The ta-form is used wherever the dictionary form is used, but for the past: at the end of a casual sentence (もう食べた？ "Have you eaten yet?"), in front of a noun (昨日見た映画 "the film I saw yesterday"), and inside patterns such as たことがある, たほうがいい, たら and たり.
Like ました, た covers "did", "has done" and often "had done". What surprises English speakers is that it can also mark a discovery in the present. When the bus you have been waiting for appears, the natural remark is あ、来た "oh, here it comes" — from the speaker's point of view its arrival is complete.
The form
stem (regular) stem (irregular) ending
| bought | 買った |
| waited | 待った |
| went home | 帰った |
| drank | 飲んだ |
| played | 遊んだ |
| wrote | 書いた |
| swam | 泳いだ |
| spoke | 話した |
| went: the exception again | 行った |
| ate | 食べた |
| saw | 見た |
| did | した |
| came | 来た |
| did not write | 書かなかった |
| did not eat | 食べなかった |
| did not do | しなかった |
| did not come | 来なかった |
The rules one by one
Make the te-form, then change て to た and で to だ.
昨日、友達と映画を見た。I saw a film with a friend yesterday.
う, つ and る become った; む, ぶ and ぬ become んだ.
週末は子どもと公園で遊んだ。At the weekend I played in the park with the children.
く becomes いた, ぐ becomes いだ, す becomes した — and 行く becomes 行った.
去年、北海道に行った。I went to Hokkaido last year.
The past negative is the ない-form with ない changed to なかった.
今朝は時間がなくて、何も食べなかった。I had no time this morning and did not eat anything.
In front of a noun, the ta-form describes something that has happened.
先週買った靴はとても歩きやすい。The shoes I bought last week are very comfortable to walk in.
A closer look
The past that is really a discovery
Japanese uses た for an action that is complete, and from the speaker's point of view a thing that has just turned up is complete. Looking for your keys and finding them, you say あった！ "there they are!", not the present ある. Remembering a plan, you say そうだ、明日は会議だった "oh right, there is a meeting tomorrow" — with a past tense about tomorrow.
English uses the present for both, so the た can look like a mistake. It is better read as "it turns out that": what has changed is not the world but what the speaker knows about it.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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the verb is 行く
the past is 行った, following its te-form 行って.
先月、初めて京都へ行った。Last month I went to Kyoto for the first time.
The ta-form and the te-form come from the same worn-down sequence, so the one exception in the te-form is the same exception here.
How to spot it
- 〜た
- 〜だ
- 〜った
- 〜んだ
- 〜いた
- 〜なかった
- たことがある
- たほうがいい
Example sentences
宿題、もう終わった？Have you finished your homework yet?
昨日はすごく疲れて、9時に寝た。I was really tired yesterday and went to bed at nine.
駅で財布を落とした。I dropped my wallet at the station.
誕生日に母がくれた時計です。This is the watch my mother gave me for my birthday.
富士山に登ったことがありますか。Have you ever climbed Mount Fuji?
昨日の会議には部長が来なかった。The department head did not come to the meeting yesterday.
7 more example sentences
昨日は一日中雨だったから、家にいた。It rained all day yesterday, so I stayed at home.
電話したけど、だれも出なかった。I phoned, but nobody answered.
田中さんはもう帰った？Has Mr Tanaka gone home already?
子どものころ、よく川で泳いだ。As a child I often swam in the river.
昨日の夜読んだ小説は悲しい話だった。The novel I read last night was a sad story.
冷蔵庫のケーキ、食べた？Did you eat the cake in the fridge?
窓を閉めなかったから、部屋が寒い。I did not close the window, so the room is cold.
Worth knowing (1)
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た before a noun is not always the past
In front of a noun, た can describe a state that resulted from something rather than a past event: 眼鏡をかけた人 is "the person wearing glasses". The glasses were put on in the past and are still on; English describes the result, Japanese the change that produced it.
あの眼鏡をかけた人が山田さんです。The person over there wearing glasses is Ms Yamada.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
In English the verb of "the book I bought" looks the same as in "I bought a book", so learners carry the polite past into the noun phrase. A clause in front of a noun takes the plain form in Japanese, however polite the conversation is; the politeness belongs to the です at the end.
て becomes た, で becomes だ, and ない becomes なかった.
Your turn
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