Grammar Info
N5 Lesson 6: 4/13

だった・でした
Was, Were (past tense)

い-Adjectives cannot be used with だった・でした

Structure
Casual
Polite
Noun + だった
[な]Adjective + だった
Noun + でした
[な]Adjective + でした
Details
Part of Speech Auxiliary Verb
Register Standard
品詞 助動詞
使用域 一般
Information
In order to say that something ‘was’ a certain way in Japanese, you will need to use だった (casual) or でした (polite) attached to the end of a noun or な-Adjective. This is simply a combination of two auxiliary verbs, (or です when polite) with た. For だった, we will need to add った to the base form of . For です, す will change to し before adding た.
  • あの電車(でんしゃ)静(しず)かだった
    That train was quiet.
  • 富士山(ふじさん)綺麗(きれい)でした
    Mt. Fuji was beautiful.
Caution
The past form of い-Adjectives cannot be linked with だった or でした, as they have their own set of conjugation rules.
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綺麗(きれい) だった
It was beautiful.
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トムだった
It was Tom.
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私(わたし)車(くるま)色(いろ)ピンクでした
My car was pink.
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Books
みんなの日本語 I
Page 128 [CH 20]
Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide
Page 32