Basic Course
Free
- 12 lessons
- 0 quizzes
- 96 week duration
-
Important Forms
-
Other Forms
Lesson 3: Past Tense Form
In this lesson，I will teach you how to convert Japanese verbs to Past Tense Form.
Type-1 Verb
| Pattern | How to convert? |
| ○う、○つ、○る | change う/つ/る to った. Examples: 会う→会った (Meaning: to meet) 打つ→打った (Meaning: to beat) やる→やった (Meaning: to do) |
| ○く、○ぐ | change く to いた, change ぐ to いだ. Examples: 書く→書いた (Meaning: to write) 嗅ぐ→嗅いだ (Meaning: to smell) |
| ○ぬ、○ぶ、○む | change ぬ/ぶ/む to んだ. Examples: 死ぬ→死んだ (Meaning: to die) 呼ぶ→呼んだ (Meaning: to call) 読む→読んだ (Meaning: to read) |
| ○す | change す to した. Examples: 押す→押した (Meaning: to press) 話す→話した (Meaning: to talk) 壊す→壊した (Meaning: to break) |
| 行く（the only exception） | 行く→行った (Meaning: to go) |
Type-2 Verb & Type-3 Verb & Irregular Verb
| Verb Type | How to convert? |
| Type-2 Verb | Change る to た. Examples: 食べる→食べた (Meaning: to eat) 降りる→降りた (Meaning: to get down) 起きる→起きた (Meaning: to wake up) |
| Type-3 Verb | Change する to した. Examples: 勉強する→勉強した (Meaning: to learn) 結婚する→結婚した (Meaning: to marry) 連絡する→連絡した (Meaning: to come through) |
| Irregular Verb | Change する to した (Meaning: to do) Change 来る to 来た (Meaning: to come) |
Examples:
| 私は小説を読んだ。 I read the novel. 彼は宿題をやった。 He finished the homework. 彼女は水を飲んだ。 She drank the water. 私たちは学校に行った。 We went to the school. 彼らは結婚した。 They got married. |
Patron-only Content:
This website won’t exist without Patrons’ support since it’s completely ad-free.
So I made some special contents for Patrons.
It’s a way of saying thank you!
340+
35 thoughts on “Lesson 3: Past Tense Form”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
1. やる-> u-verb does it mean it needs to change to u-verb or is it a u-verb
2. Only have one exception right? (行く-> 行った)
1.It is a u-verb
2.Yes
I feel so dumb for asking but I don’t quite understand the table 😅
Thanks in advance 💙
I added an explanation, does it make sense now?
Yes! Thank you so much and sorry for the trouble 😅
Your website is the best so far when it comes to helping me learn Japanese. Keep it up! 💙
You are welcome!
Thanks for the explainations! However I still didn’t get the rule for u-verbs. Reply would be appreciated
Could you please tell me where you can’t understand?
I cannot understand why 押す became 押した
To be honest, it’s not something to “understand”, it’s a rule to “remember”, just remember that when you find the verb like xx-す, then past tense will be xx-した. It’s just like “I cannot understand why like became liked”, no one knows, but we use it everyday.
I don’t quite get the other u-rule verbs 😓 like 会うchanges to 会った while 書く changes to 書いた
う=った and く= いた 🤷🏻♀️ I don’t quite get how did it change to that same goes to the other u-verbs that doesn’t ends with う
Just change it based on the hiragana in the end. If you saw a verb like xx-く，and you want to change it to past tense form, just change く to いた, and that’s all.
Thanks so much
1 question, about the んだ when do you use it?
When there is ぬ/ぶ/む in the end, use んだ
In the first part of the explanation (the explanation of う-verbs) you accidentally put #1 to the second part of the explanation too. (う-verbs that end with く/ぐ)
Sorry I can’t find what you said, Could you please provide more details or a screenshot if possible?
There are segments of each explanation of how to convert different verbs to them to past tense.
The first segment is the u-verbs.
Within this segment there are u-verbs which have different hiragana endings, thus different rules apply to each group.
You mention the first group of u-verbs (marked #1): these ones end with う, つ or る and there are the rules on how to convert them etc.
Then you bring up the second group (here’s the mistake as you marked this one as #1 again): these ones end with く or ぐ and the rules on how to convert them etc.
The next group is marked with #3 as supposed to be.
Oh, I found it and corrected it already! Thank you for your information!
I don’t understand the special verb part…
1. する is also part of the special verb besides the 26 others right?
2. 来る to 来た? Like change u to i and cut the る and put た? How about others? 帰る(かえる) , 要る(いる)?
Special verbs are totally irregular, so you should remember them directly.
Great explainion!
I wonder if there are any quizs.
can one use the ‘past of the polite tense ‘ in place of the past tense ?
sure!
I’m still confused when to use っ た and た
wait, there is no verb that ends with fu?
no Verb ends with fu
Are these the polite past tense forms?
It’s plain past tense form.
plain past tense：会う→会った
polite past tense：会う→会いました
Now that we’re in the verb section, I noticed the example sentences are using を in a way that seems to be between the subjects (such as 彼女は水) and the verb (such as 飲んだ). Is this the main usage of を? As a particle like は, に, or の? I’m sure you cover it in a particle section but I have not gotten there yet!
Yes!
how to differentiate type 1 る (った) from type 2 る (た)?
check out the hiragana before [る], if it’s a-column or u-column, then it should by type 1 る (った)
if it’s i-column or e-column, then it should by type 2 る (た)
For the plain negative past tense form, where did ない come from? It’s a conjugation that appears nowhere else in this lesson or the previous lessons.
Is this a future lesson that time travelled back here to stop John Connor from learning Japanese?
I see, you got a point here, I think I should just put “plain negative past tense” part in the next lesson “Negative Form”.