Conjugating into the Past Tense
If you haven't already, visit the present tense post first before reading this one or else this post might be confusing.
We use past tense to describe something that already happened. The past tense conjugates very similarly like the present tense. The biggest difference between the two is that they have different endings. If you've already mastered the conjugation of present tense verbs, the past tense should be fairly easy. Like present tense, past tense has a polite from, a plain form, and it's negative forms.
Polite Past Form
Take the polite present form and replace the ます (masu) with ました (mashita)。
Ex: 食べました tabemashita
（I/he/she etc.） ate
Polite Past Negative Form
Take the polite present form and replace the ません (masu) with ませんでした (mashita)。
Ex: 食べませんでした tabemasendeshita
(I/she/he etc.) didn't eat
Plain Past Form
For る verbs: Replace the る with た.
Ex: 見た mita
(I/he/she) saw
For U verbs: Different rules apply to different endings:
For verbs that end in る/つ/う： Replace the る/つ/う withった。Ex. 侍った habeta attended
For verbs that end in む/ぬ/ぶ: Replace む/ぬ/ぶ with んだ。 Ex. 飲んだ nonda drank
For verbs that end inく : Replace く with いた。 Ex. 焼いた yaita baked/grilled
For verbs that end in ぐ: Replace ぐ with いだ。 Ex. 泳いだ oyo-ida swam
For verbs that end in す: Replace す with した。 Ex. でした deshita was
Irregulars:
する ＝ した shita did
来る ＝ 来た kita came
行く ＝ 行った itta went
Plain Past Negative Form
Take the plain present negative form of the verb and replace ない with なかった .
Ex: 食べなかった tabenakatta
I ate.
Now that you know how to conjugate things in the past tense, here are some sentence examples using the past tense:
去年は日本に行きました。kyonen wa nihon ni ikimashita
I went to Japan last year.
父はりんごを食べました。chichi wa ringo o tabemashita
My father ate an apple.
たこ焼きが焼きました。takoyaki ga yakimashita
I grilled takoyaki.
I hope this post helped you ;earn how to conjugate verbs into the past tense. Feel free to comment any questions you have in the comment section below.
Sayounara!
