Last time, you learned how to express existence and possession like "駅に田中さんがいる (Tanaka-san is in the station)," and "田中さんには大きな夢がある (Tanaka-san has a big dream)." Then, if you would like to say “Tanaka-san was in the station,” what should you do? In this lesson, you will learn how to express past tense and present perfect tense.
How Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense in Japanese Work with the Ta-form
Table of Contents Conjugation Rule How the Ta-form Works in Sentences Advanced Topic: Past Perfect and Past Progressive Tense |
Past tense indicates that actions were completed in the past, e.g. I studied Japanese. Present perfect tense has a number of different functions, e.g. to express completion: “I have just done my homework,” and experience: “I have studied Japanese before.” In English, you distinguish the two tenses by using “have.” However, in Japanese, we express the two tenses by using the same form.
Ta-form
When you conjugate verbs into the ta-form, you can utilize the conjugation rule of the te-form. Just like the te-form ends with て, the ta-form works the same as the te-form, but ends with た. Let's check the conjugation rule.
Ru-verbs: Replace る with た
Plain | Ta-form | |
---|---|---|
To see, look (at), watch | 見る | 見た |
To wear | 着る | 着た |
To eat | 食べる | 食べた |
To answer | 答える | 答えた |
Two Exceptions
Plain | Ta-form | |
---|---|---|
To do | する | した |
To come | 来る | 来た |
U-verbs: Four Different Rules with One Exception
Plain | Conjugation | Ta-form | |
---|---|---|---|
To buy To wait To go back |
買う 待つ 帰る |
う => つ => った る => |
買った 待った 帰った |
To die To hang out To read |
死ぬ 遊ぶ 読む |
ぬ => ぶ => んだ む => |
死んだ 遊んだ 読んだ |
To write To swim |
書く 泳ぐ |
く => いた ぐ => いだ |
書いた 泳いだ |
To talk | 話す | す => した | 話した |
To go | *行く | Exception | 行った |
Negative Sentences
When it comes to negative expressions, the conjugation works differently from the te-form. There is just one conjugation rule regardless of the type of verbs. You just replace い with かった.
Negative | Past-Negative |
---|---|
見ない | 見なかった |
しない | しなかった |
来ない | 来なかった |
買わない | 買わなかった |
読まない | 読まなかった |
Polite Expressions
This is also simple. You just need to replace す with した in affirmative and add でした in negative sentences regardless of the type of verbs.
Affirmative | Past- Affirmative | Negative | Past-Negative |
---|---|---|---|
見ます | 見ました | 見ません | 見ませんでした |
します | しました | しません | しませんでした |
来ます | 来ました | 来ません | 来ませんでした |
買います | 買いました | 買いません | 買いませんでした |
読みます | 読みました | 読みません | 読みませんでした |
Question Markers with Past Tense
Question markers are always placed at the end.
Past | Past-Negative | Past-Polite | Past-Polite-Negative |
---|---|---|---|
見た? 見たの? |
見なかった? 見なかったの? |
見ましたか? 見たんですか? |
見ませんでしたか? 見なかったんですか? |
した? したの? |
しなかった? しなかったの? |
しましたか? したんですか? |
しませんでしたか? しなかったんですか? |
来た? 来たの? |
来なかった? 来なかったの? |
来ましたか? 来たんですか? |
来ませんでしたか? 来なかったんですか? |
買った? 買ったの? |
買わなかった? 買わなかったの? |
買いましたか? 買ったんですか? |
買いませんでしたか? 買わなかったんですか? |
読んだ? 読んだの? |
読まなかった? 読まなかったの? |
読みましたか? 読んだんですか? |
読みませんでしたか? 読まなかったんですか? |
How the Ta-form Works in Sentences
昨日 | [私 は ・ が] | 寿司を | 食べ(た / ました) |
Temporal Noun | [Topic / Subject] | Direct Object | Verb: Ta-form |
[I] ate Sushi yesterday. |
さっき | [私 は ・ が] | 寿司を | 食べ(た / ました) |
Adverbial Noun | [Topic / Subject] | Direct Object | Verb: Ta-form |
[I] have eaten Sushi just now. |
In Japanese, the ta-form just expresses that actions were completed in the past. Therefore, you cannot judge whether it is past tense or present perfect tense by looking at the form of verbs. Basically contexts given by temporal nouns or adverbs determine tense.
先週、日本語の本を(読んだ / 読みました)。 [I] read the Japanese book last week. |
今、日本語の本を(読んだ / 読みました)。 [I] have read the Japanese book just now. |
辞書は(買った / 買いました)? => Unclear |
辞書はもう(買った / 買いました)? As for the dictionary, have [you] already bought [it]? |
“もう: already” is a very useful word to express present perfect tense. When you would like to confirm something like “Have you done it?” you should utilize もう rather than temporal nouns.
Past Tense and Present Perfect Tense in Negative Sentences
昨日 | [私 は ・ が] | 宿題を | しなかった / しませんでした |
Temporal Noun | [Topic / Subject] | Direct Object | Verb: Ta-form |
As for yesterday, [I] didn’t do my homework. |
まだ | [私 は ・ が] | 宿題を | して(いない / いません) |
Adverb | [Topic / Subject] | Direct Object | Verb: Te-form+いる |
[I] haven’t done my homework yet. |
As you can see, we don’t use the ta-form to express present perfect tense in negative sentences. The first example shows the fact that you didn’t do your homework in the past, which should be expressed by the ta-form. However, the second example shows that you haven’t yet done your homework. Essentially, this is not an action competed in the past. This is an ongoing state. Therefore, we use the te-form + いる.
映画は(見なかった / 見ませんでした)。 As for movies, [I] didn’t watch [it]. |
映画はまだ見て(いない / いません)。 As for movies, [I] haven’t watched [it], yet. |
田中さんは(来なかった / 来ませんでした)。 Tanaka-san didn’t come. |
田中さんはまだ来て(いない / いません)。 Tanaka-san hasn’t come yet. |
“まだ: yet” is an important word here. Since we use the te-form for multiple tenses, we can easily distinguish them by placing the key word.
Advanced Topic: Past Perfect and Past Progressive Tense
Past Perfect Tense
昨日の11時、妹は昼ごはんをもう食べて(いた / いました)。 At 11am yesterday, my younger sister had already eaten lunch. |
This example essentially expresses a state that she had already eaten lunch (*see the chart from when she ate lunch to 11am marked in red). Therefore, we use the te-form + いる to express a state and replace る with た to express that it was in the past.
Past Progressive Tense
昨日の11時、妹は昼ごはんを食べて(いた / いました)。 At 11am yesterday, my younger sister was eating lunch. |
This example expresses an ongoing action taken at a particular time in the past. Therefore, we use the te-form + いる to express the continuous action and replace る with た to express that it was in the past.
As you notice, the te-form + いた can express both past perfect and past progressive tense. The key word is もう. If a sentence has もう, it will be past perfect tense. If not, it will be past progressive tense.
今朝、宿題はまだして(いなかった / いませんでした)。 [I] hadn’t done my homework yet this morning. |
今朝、宿題はして(いなかった / いませんでした)。 [I] wasn’t doing my homework this morning. |
When it comes to negative sentences, the concept will remain the same. The te-form + いなかった can expresses both past perfect and past progressive tense. The key word is まだ.
まだ起きて(いる / いますか)? Are [you] still awake? |
まだ起きて(いた / いましたか)? Were [you] still awake? |
まだ宿題をして(いる / います)。 [I] am still doing my homework. |
まだ宿題をして(いた / いました)。 [I] was still doing my homework. |
Be careful; when you use まだ in affirmative sentences, まだ will work the same as “still” in English.
More Examples
もう明日の準備はした(の / んですか)? Have [you] already prepared for tomorrow? |
(うん / はい)、もう(した / しました)。 Yes, [I] have. |
(ううん / いいえ)、まだして(いない / いません)。 No, [I] haven’t. |
去年、日本に(行った / 行きましたか)? Did [you] go to Japan last year? |
(うん / はい)、(行った / 行きました)。 Yes, [I] did. |
(ううん / いいえ)、(行かなかった / 行きませんでした)。 No, [I] didn’t. |
もう寝た(の / んですか)? Have [you] gone to bed? |
(ううん / いいえ)、まだ起きて(いる / います)。 No, [I’m] still awake. |
まだ寝ていない(の / んですか)? Haven’t [you] gone to bed yet? |
(うん / はい)、まだ寝て(いない / いません)。 No, [I] haven’t gone to bed yet. |
昨日の夜10時は何をしていた(の / んですか)? What were [you] doing at 10pm yesterday? |
友達と話して(いた / いました)。 [I] was talking with my friend. |
もう寝て(いた / いました)。 [I] had already gone to bed. |
Summary
- The ta-form conjugates the same as the te-form, but ends with た.
- In affirmative sentences, the ta-form expresses past tense and present perfect tense.
- In negative sentences, the ta-form expresses past tense while the te-form expresses present perfect tense.
- “もう: already” and “まだ: yet” are the key.
- The te-form + いた expresses past perfect tense and past progressive tense.
The ta-form actually has several functions and you have learned one of them here. In order to be able to precisely express tense, you need to know how to conjugate verbs with temporal nouns and adverbs. Please try to memorize them in place. Next, you will learn how to express state-of-being and adjectives in the past.