{"id":3746,"date":"2014-06-18T06:54:40","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T06:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/?p=3746"},"modified":"2018-07-25T15:38:58","modified_gmt":"2018-07-25T15:38:58","slug":"how-to-talk-about-past-in-japanese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/japanese\/how-to-talk-about-past-in-japanese\/","title":{"rendered":"How to talk about past in Japanese?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this article, I thought it will be interesting to cover “how to express past events in Japanese”. In English, each verb has its own past tense form, and that some of them are a bit unique in that you have to know how to “convert” from present tense to past tense. \u00a0In Japanese, grammar is a bit more simpler believe it or not. \u00a0I will show you using the examples below.<\/p>\n

The basic rule is to convert<\/p>\n

“~ masu (\uff5e\u307e\u3059)” to “~mashita (\uff5e\u307e\u3057\u305f)”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Example 1:<\/p>\n

Benkyo shimasu<\/strong> (\u3079\u3093\u304d\u3087\u3046\u3057\u307e\u3059<\/strong>) ===> Benkyo shimashita(<\/strong>\u3079\u3093\u304d\u3087\u3046\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watashi wa Nihongo o benkyo shimasu. – I study Japanese. ==><\/p>\n

Watashi wa Nihongo o benkyo shimashita – I studied Japanese.<\/p>\n

Example 2:<\/p>\n

Sushi o tabemasu<\/strong>(\u3059\u3057\u3092\u305f\u3079\u307e\u3059<\/strong>) \u00a0==> Sushi o tabemashita<\/strong>(\u3059\u3057\u3092\u305f\u3079\u307e\u3057\u305f<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Watashi wa kono sushi o tabemasu.- I eat this Sushi. ===><\/p>\n

Watashi wa kono sushi o tabemashita. – I ate this Sushi.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example 3:<\/p>\n

shigoto o shimasu<\/strong>(\u3057\u3054\u3068\u3092\u3057\u307e\u3059<\/strong>) \u00a0==> shigoto o shimashita<\/strong>(\u3057\u3054\u3068\u3092\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Watashi wa imakara shigoto o shimasu- I start working now\u00a0===><\/p>\n

Watashi wa kinou shigoto o shimashita.- I worked yesterday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example 4:<\/p>\n

undo shimasu(\u3046\u3093\u3069\u3046\u3057\u307e\u3059) ==> undo shimashita(\u3046\u3093\u3069\u3046\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f)<\/p>\n

Watashiwa kyo undo shimasu. – I will exercise today. ==><\/p>\n

Watashiwa kinou undo shimashita. – I exercised yesterday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Example 5:<\/p>\n

nomimasu<\/strong>(\u306e\u307f\u307e\u3059<\/strong>) == > nomimashita<\/strong> (\u306e\u307f\u307e\u3057\u305f<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

Watashiwa sake o nomimasu. – I drink Sake. ==><\/p>\n

Watashiwa kinou sake o takusan nomimashita. – I drank lots of sake yesterday.<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

As you can see, the rule is pretty simple here. As long as you know the rule to change ~masu to ~mashita<\/strong>, you can covert from present tense to past tense. Try practicing by creating your own sentences using the verbs above.<\/p>\n

Short video for your review:<\/p>\n