How to form the past tense in Japanese?

For verbs, the way you form the ta-form depends on the verb type.

• Ru-verbs are easy! Just replace the ending る (transcribed ru) with た (transcribed ta):

  Dictionary form	Ta-form (plain)
  見る Transcription: miru Translation: see	見た Transcription: mita Translation: saw
  遅れる Transcription: okureru Translation: be late	遅れた Transcription: okureta Translation: was late

• The irregular verbs have the following ta-forms. Notice they still end with た (transcribed ta)!

  Dictionary form	Ta-form (plain)
  来る Transcription: kuru Translation: come	来た Transcription: kita Translation: came
  する Transcription: suru Translation: do	した Transcription: shita Translation: did

• U-verbs are a little more complicated. Here you’ll still be replacing the final syllable, but the ending you use will depend on the exact ending of the dictionary form. Check out this chart:

  *One little exception here: The ta-form of the verb 行く (transcribed iku, meaning “to go”) is 行った (transcribed itta), which keeps it pronouncable!

  Dictionary ending	Ta-form ending	Example
  		う Transcription: u	った Transcription: tta	言う Transcription: iu Translation: say	言った Transcription: itta Translation: said
  つ Transcription: tsu	待つ Transcription: matsu Translation: wait	待った Transcription: matta Translation: waited
  る Transcription: ru	走る Transcription: hashiru Translation: run	走った Transcription: hashitta Translation: ran
  む Transcription: mu	んだ Transcription: nda	読む Transcription: yomu Translation: read (present)	読んだ Transcription: yonda Translation: read (past)
  ぶ Transcription: bu		遊ぶ Transcription: asobu Translation: play	遊んだ Transcription: asonda Translation: played
  ぬ Transcription: nu		死ぬ Transcription: shinu Translation: die	死んだ Transcription: shinda Translation: died
  す Transcription: su	した Transcription: shita	話す Transcription: hanasu Translation: talk	話した Transcription: hanashita Translation: talked
  く Transcription: ku	いた* Transcription: ita	書く Transcription: kaku Translation: write	書いた Transcription: kaita Translation: wrote
  ぐ Transcription: gu	いだ Transcription: ida	泳ぐ Transcription: oyogu Translation: swim	泳いだ Transcription: oyoida Translation: swam

This ta form is only used when the adjective or noun is a predicate, meaning that its translation in English would follow a form of the verb “to be.”

Luckily, this ta-form is quite easy to assemble!

• Add かった (transcribed katta) to the stem of an i-adjective.

• Add だった (transcribed datta) to the stem of a na-adjective or noun.

The plain form is the form you would use for the predicate of a present tense sentence. The dictionary forms of na-adjectives and nouns do not end with だ (transcribed da).

Here are some examples:

There is only one rule to learn to form the negative of a ta-form, regardless of whether the word is a verb, adjective, or noun! Just take the plain negative form (the nai-form), and replace the final ない (transcribed nai) with 〜なかった (transcribed nakatta). Check it out!

You can learn to form the plain nai-form from our posts introducing Japanese verbs, nouns, and adjectives!

In Japanese, the polite past tense endings to use are:

Here are a few examples:

• 今日は朝ごはんを食べました。

  Transcription: Kyō wa asa gohan o tabemashita.

  Translation: I had breakfast today.
• まゆこは宿題をしましたか。

  Transcription: Mayuko wa shukudai o shimashita ka.

  Translation: Did Mayuko do her homework?
• 先週はマンガを描きませんでした。

  Transcription: Senshū wa manga o kakimasen deshita.

  Translation: I did not draw manga last week.

For full details on how and when to use these endings, have a look at these introductions to verbs, adjectives, and nouns in Japanese.

We use the ta-form to discuss an action that took place and then was finished, for example:

You can also use it for an action that did not take place.

• 昨日は庭の掃除をしなかった。

  Transcription: Kinō wa niwa no sōji o shinakatta.

  Translation: I didn’t clean up the yard yesterday.

  I didn’t do the yard cleaning yesterday.
• 私はその本を読みませんでした。

  Transcription: Watashi wa sono hon o yomimasen deshita.

  Translation: I didn’t read the book. (polite)

You’ll often use this form to ask someone whether or not something happened. Make sure to use a rising intonation to make it clear you’re asking a question not making a statement!

We use the ta-form to describe a past state of being if the predicate is a noun or adjective. This means that if, in English, you would say “was/were” + noun/adjective, you should probably use the ta-form in Japanese

• 昨日は休みだった。

  Transcription: Kinō wa yasumi datta.

  Translation: Yesterday was a day off.
• 今年の春は桜がきれいだった。

  Transcription: Kotoshi no haru wa sakura ga kirei datta.

  Translation: The cherry blossoms were beautiful this spring.
• 先週の祭りは大きくありませんでした。

  Transcription: Senshū no matsuri wa ōkiku arimasen deshita.

  Translation: The festival last week was not so big.
• 昨日のコンサートは、ピアノが良かったですね。

  Transcription: Kinō no konsa-to wa, piano ga yokatta desu ne.

  Translation: At yesterday's concert, the piano was good.

We can also use the ta-form as an equivalent of the present perfect tense in English (e.g. “has seen”). For example:

You can also use the ta-form this way to express that someone has had an experience. Here, the ta-form will usually come before ことがある (transcribed koto ga aru).

To learn more about this use of the ta-form, check out our post on discussing past experiences in Japanese!

When the ta-form is used as a simple past tense, it is often used with time markers that indicate a specific past time. Let’s look at a few ways to do this.

• You can give an exact date or time:

  1870年に

  Transcription: 1870 nen ni

  Translation: in 1870

• You can use phrases like the ones below to represent the time something happened in comparison to the present:

  Period	Example
  Day	一昨日 / おととい Transcription: ototoi Translation: the day before yesterday
  	昨日 / きのう Transcription: kinō Translation: yesterday
  	今日 / きょう Transcription: kyō Translation: today
  Week	先々週 / せんせんしゅう Transcription: sensenshū Translation: the week before last
  	先週 / せんしゅう Transcription: senshū Translation: last week
  	今週 / こんしゅう Transcription: konshū Translation: this week
  Month	先々月 / せんせんげつ Transcription: sensengetsu Translation: the month before last
  	先月 / せんげつ Transcription: sengetsu Translation: last month
  	今月 / こんげつ Transcription: kongetsu Translation: this month
  Year	一昨年 / おととし Transcription: ototoshi Translation: the year before last
  	去年 / きょねん Transcription: kyonen Translation: last year
  	今年 / ことし Transcription: kotoshi Translation: this year

• You can describe “how long ago” something happened using this structure:

  amount of time

  

  前

  Transcription: mae

  Translation: ago

  の木は3ヶ月前に植えた。

  Transcription: Kono ki wa ni ueta.

  Translation: This tree was planted three months ago.

  Here are a few more examples of phrases using this structure:

  • 10分前

    Transcription: jippunnmae

    Translation: 10 minutes ago
  • 3日前

    Transcription: mikka mae

    Translation: 3 days ago
  • 半年前

    Transcription: hantoshi mae

    Translation: half a year ago (six months ago)
  • 100年前

    Transcription: hyakunen mae

    Translation: one hundred years ago

  Check out our posts on expressing the date or discussing the time of day in Japanese to learn more about how to form these expressions!

If you see the phrases below used alongside the ta-form, you can be sure that it should be translated using the English present perfect tense.

• もう

  Transcription: mō

  Translation: already
• 既に / すでに

  Transcription: sudeni

  Translation: already (more formal)

For example:

Though the ta-form will often include a time marker that will tell you whether you should translate it using the simple past (e.g. saw) or the present perfect (e.g. has seen), in a sentence without time markers, you’ll need to use the surrounding context to recognize the difference.

Let’s look at an example! The question below could receive two possible translations:

The meaning will depend on the situation:

• If it’s late afternoon, it’s unlikely that Ken will go back now and have breakfast, so probably you should use “did you eat” as the translation.

• If it’s still morning, the speaker could well be offering Ken food, or suggesting he go eat now. His answer will impact what he does now, so “have you eaten” is more appropriate.

As we mentioned above, the negative ta-form cannot be used like you might use the present perfect tense. So though affirmative sentences with the ta-form might be ambiguous in meaning, negative sentences are not!

If you do want to express a negative present perfect verb, you can always use the te-iru form: