Table of Contents
The Basics
〜た is a suffix that comes at the end of any word in Japanese that is in the past tense. You'll see it on い-adjectives with 〜かった, on polite form verbs with 〜ました, and on the past tense forms of だ and です, だった and でした. On this page though, we'll be zeroing in on plain form verbs. These are made past tense by directly adding 〜た (or in some cases 〜だ) to plain form verbs, as in 食べた (ate), 行った (went), or 住んだ (lived).
Conjugating Verbs to Take 〜た
| Godan | 会う → 会った
立つ → 立った 割る → 割った 写す → 写した 書く → 書いた 泳ぐ → 泳いだ 死ぬ → 死んだ 学ぶ → 学んだ 休む → 休んだ |
| Ichidan | 食べる → 食べた
起きる → 起きた 閉じる → 閉じた |
| Irregular | 行く → 行った
来る → 来た する → した |
Godan Verbs
〜た attaches to godan verbs in a bunch of different ways. If you're curious why, you can read about the process that caused this, which is known as 音便. It is the same reason why the て form conjugation pattern also has the same wacky pattern. If you just want to know the rules though, then here they are:
Verbs in the plain form that end in う, つ or る change to った:
会
う+ った = 会った
立つ+ った = 立った
割る+ った = 割った
Verbs ending in む, ぬ or ぶ change to んだ:
休
む+ んだ = 休んだ
死ぬ+ んだ = 死んだ
学ぶ+ んだ = 学んだ
Verbs ending in く change to いた:
書
く+ いた = 書いた
Verbs ending in ぐ change to いだ:
泳
ぐ+ いた = 泳いだ
Finally, verbs ending in す change to した
写
す+ した = 写した
Ichidan Verbs
For ichidan verbs, we simply remove the 〜る from the plain form and add 〜た:
食べ
る+ た = 食べた
見る+ た = 見た
Irregular Verbs
Finally, we have our two irregular verbs. These two are always irregular no matter what verb form we're talking about (and there are only two of them—hurray!):
来
る+ た = 来た
する+ た = した
While 行く (to go) usually behaves like a godan verb, you should learn it as an irregular for this conjugation. It ends in く, so we would normally expect it to behave like 書く above, but in fact the past tense is:
行
く+ った = 行った
Uses of 〜た
Verbs in this form are used to describe the past, things that have been completed, and things that you have just realized.
The past:
- 本を買った。
- I bought a book.
- 昨日、映画を見た。
- I watched a movie yesterday.
- 2年前、日本に来た。
- I came to Japan two years ago.
Completed actions:
- 日本語が上手になったね。
- You've gotten really good at Japanese.
- やっと分かった！
- I've finally got it!
Realizations:
- あ、あった！
- Oh, there it is!
Beyond the Basics
〜た in the Middle of Sentences
As we mentioned earlier, the 〜た form is the past tense plain form for verbs. When it is used at the end of a sentence, it has a casual feel. However, if it is used in the middle of sentences, it doesn't show the politeness level of the sentence, because politeness is usually shown at the end of a sentence.
- フグを食べたことがありますか。
- Have you ever eaten blowfish? (polite)
- フグを食べたことがある？
- Have you ever eaten blowfish? (casual)
- 日本にいた時、フグを食べましたか。
- Did you eat blowfish while you were in Japan? (polite)
- 日本にいた時、フグを食べた？
- Did you eat blowfish while you were in Japan? (casual)