A was/were B.
- A was/were B.
- A was/were not B/C. The ありませんでした forms are more polite than the なかったです ones.
7
祖母はきれいでした。
Grandmother was pretty.
2
結婚式は日曜日でした。
The wedding was Sunday.
Getting the sentences
List
Past tense
You’ve been doing great with present/future tense so far; now it’s time to look at the past tense!
You’ve been doing great with present/future tense so far; now it’s time to look at the past tense!
In this lesson, we’ll start with the past tense for です. We will cover the past tense of polite (ます) verbs in the next lesson.
です → でした
がくせい です → がくせいでした
To start off, if you want to talk about something that was true in the past, you will change です to でした.
To start off, if you want to talk about something that was true in the past, you will change です to でした.
So, for example, if you used to be a student, instead of saying がくせいです (I am a student), you would say がくせいでした (I was a student).
You can also ask questions in the past tense just like we learned before, by adding か to the end of your statement, or by using a question word.
You can use でした for any of the patterns we learned earlier that use です！
じゃないです → じゃありませんでした
じゃないです → じゃなかったです
さかな じゃないです →
さかな じゃありませんでした
(or さかな じゃなかったです)
さかな じゃありませんでした
(or さかな じゃなかったです)
There are two ways to make じゃないです past tense, depending on your level of formality.
There are two ways to make じゃないです past tense, depending on your level of formality.
The first, and more formal, is to use じゃありません (which is just a more polite version of じゃない) and add でした.
The other way to make a negative noun past tense is to conjugate じゃない, using a similar pattern to how we learned to string adjectives together.
You will drop the い from じゃない, and add かった before finishing with です.
Since you’re making the じゃない past tense, you do not need to change the final です.
So if something wasn’t fish, instead of さかなじゃないです you could say either さかなじゃありませんでした or さかなじゃなかったです.
Past Adjectives
In Japanese, not only can nouns and verbs become past tense, but adjectives can too!
In Japanese, not only can nouns and verbs become past tense, but adjectives can too!
You usually will not see past tense adjectives modifying nouns, though, only on their own.
な adjectives
へや は きれい です → へや は きれい でした
クラス は しずか じゃない です →
クラス は しずか じゃなかった です
クラス は しずか じゃなかった です
すし が すき でした
あか が きらい じゃなかった です
あか が きらい じゃなかった です
な adjectives will become past tense in the same way that nouns do, using でした and じゃなかったです.
な adjectives will become past tense in the same way that nouns do, using でした and じゃなかったです.
So if you want to say the room WAS clean (but maybe it’s not now), you will use the sentence above.
Or if the class wasn’t quiet, the sentence would look like this.
Our ‘special’ adjectives, すき and きらい, will work the same way.
いそがしい → いそがしかった
それ は やさしかった です。
いい → よかった
さむくない → さむくなかった
たこやき は あたたかくなかった です。
For い adjectives, you will need to get rid of that final い, just like in our other adjective conjugations.
For い adjectives, you will need to get rid of that final い, just like in our other adjective conjugations.
Then you will add かった - just like when you learned it for past negative nouns and な adjectives!
You see, じゃない basically is an い adjective, so you have seen this already!
So if you WERE busy, you would say いそがしかったです.
So to say ‘That was easy!’ You will use the sentence above. Not bad, right?
Remember our one irregular adjective, いい? It will continue to follow the same pattern and conjugate as if it were よい、so you will say よかった in the past tense.
Negative past tense will work in the same way. We already know that we will drop the い and add くない to make the adjective negative, now we’ll do the same thing again.
You’ll drop the い from the くない ending, and add かった after that.
So ‘It wasn’t cold’ would be さむくなかった.
And ‘the tako-yaki (fried balls of dough and octopus) wasn’t warm’ would look like this: isn’t that just fun to say?
So with just a few changes (the easiest being です to でした and じゃない to じゃなかったです), you can change entire sentences into past tense!
So with just a few changes (the easiest being です to でした and じゃない to じゃなかったです), you can change entire sentences into past tense!
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
Basic Examples:
お母さんは弁護士でした (my mother was a lawyer)
Basic Examples:
ハチ公は有名でした (Hachiko was famous)
Basic Examples:
リンゴは大きかったです (the apple was big)
Where this grammar is found
A was/were not B/C.
The ありませんでした forms are more polite than the なかったです ones.
- A was/were B.
- A was/were not B/C. The ありませんでした forms are more polite than the なかったです ones.
2
クラスは静かじゃなかったです。
The class was not quiet.
3
料理は上手じゃなかったです。
I was not good at cooking.
1
野球は下手じゃありませんでした。
I was not bad at baseball.
Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
Basic Examples:
部屋はきれいじゃなかったです (the room wasn't clean)
Basic Examples:
昨日は暇じゃありませんでした (I wasn't free yesterday)
Basic Examples:
クッキーはおいしくなかったです (the cookie wasn't delicious)
Basic Examples:
お姉さんは先生じゃありませんでした (My older sister wasn't a teacher)
Basic Examples:
あの建物は図書館じゃなかったです (That building wasn't a library)
Where this grammar is found
Grammar usage notes
Nothing posted yet!
Questions/Discussion
Nothing posted yet!
Discussion about this grammar
This section has been archived, and no new posts can be added. Please use the discussion form(s) above.
マイコー
Level: 292
I'm not 100% clear on what you're asking, but if you want to toss up a couple of "are these sentences ok" - I can confirm those for you. 
0
4 months ago
Report Content
ルーカス | Lukas
Level: 226
I'm not 100% clear on what you're asking, but if you want to toss up a couple of "are these sentences ok" - I can confirm those for you.
I think Fredy was asking, cause in the Negativ-Past Construction above you have:
- な-Adj. (Negative - Past - Casual)
- な-Adj. (Negative - Past - Polite)
- い-Adj. (Negative - Past - Casual)
- ....
- Noun (Negative - Past - Polite)
- Noun (Negtaive - Past - Casual
I think in between the Negative-Past-Polite Form of い-Adjectives is missing? :)
0
4 months ago
Report Content