Past Tense
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Changing verbs to the past tense
We will finish defining all the basic properties of verbs by learning how to express the past and past-negative tense of actions. I will warn you in advance that the conjugation rules in this section will be the most complex rules you will learn in all of Japanese. On the one hand, once you have this section nailed, all other rules of conjugation will seem simple. On the other hand, you might need to refer back to this section many times before you finally get all the rules. A great deal of practice will also probably be needed for you to become familiar with all the different conjugations.
Past tense for ru-verbs
We will start off with the easy category of ru-verbs. To change a ru-verb from the dictionary form into the past tense, you simply drop the 「る」 and add 「た」.
To change ru-verbs into the past tense
- Drop the 「る」 part of the ru-verb and add 「た」
- 例）出
る→ 出た - 例）捨て
る→ 捨てた
Examples
（１） ご飯は、食べた。- About meal, ate.
（２） 映画は、全部見た。- About movie, saw them all.
Past tense for u-verbs
Changing a u-verb from dictionary form to the past tense is difficult because we must break up u-verbs into four additional categories. These four categories depend on the last character of the verb. The table below illustrates the different sub-categories. In addition, there is one exception to the rules, which is the verb 「行く」. I've bundled it with the regular exception verbs 「する」 and 「来る」 even though 「行く」 is a regular u-verb in all other conjugations.
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＊ = exceptions particular to this conjugation
Examples
（１） 今日は、走った。- As for today, ran.
（２） 友達が来た。- Friend is the one that came.
（３） 私も遊んだ。- I also played.
（４） 勉強は、した。- About homework, did it.
Past-negative tense for all verbs
The conjugation rules for the past-negative tense are the same for all verbs. You might have noticed that the negative tense of just about everything always end in 「ない」. Just like the conjugations for negative adjectives and negative state-of-being, you simply replace the 「い」 from the negative tense of the verb with 「かった」 to change any verb into the past-negative tense.
To change verbs into the past-negative tense
- Change the first verb to the negative tense and replace the 「い」 with 「かった」
- 例）捨てる → 捨てな
い→ 捨てなかった - 例）行く → 行かな
い→ 行かなかった
Examples
（１） アリスは食べなかった。- Alice did not eat.
（２） ボブも行かなかった。- Bob also did not go.
（３） ジムがしなかった。- Jim is the one that did not do.
