Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 4: 8/13

う-Verb (Past)う - Verbs (Past tense)

Structure

Examples:
[る5]Verb(すわ) + った
[う]Verb(うた) + った
[つ]Verb() + った

[く]Verb(ある) + いた
[ぐ]Verb(およ) + いだ

[ぬ]Verb() + んだ
[ぶ]Verb() + んだ
[む]Verb(やす) + んだ

[す]Verb(はな) + した

Exceptions:
()く → ()った
するした
くるきた
()う → ()うた
()う → ()うた

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Verb

  • Word Type

    Auxiliary Verb

  • Register

    Standard

About う-Verb (Past)

To make the past form of a う-Verb in Japanese, just like all other conjugations of う-Verbs, you will need to change the last kana, before adding the auxiliary verb た (casual), or ました (polite). This change in kana is a bit different to other conjugations of う-Verbs, so let's take a look at them for the casual form.

As can be seen in these examples, the changes consist of った, いた, いだ, んだ, した (the same as the changes for て form, but using た instead). For the conjugations using だ in place of た, this is simply a sound change in the language that happened over the course of history, to make words easier/smoother to say. It is not the auxiliary verb .

For the polite past form of う-Verbs, the change in sound is far more consistent. This only requires a change from the う sound, to the い sound within the same column (from う to い, or from く to き, for example).

When た is added to verbs (or any other word), it can have one of three possible meanings.

Past: 過去(かこ) - Happened at some point in the past. (Did/Was)

Completion: 完了(かんりょう) - An action that has finished 'happening'. (Done)

Continuation: 存続(そんぞく) - A new state of something that is continuing. (Has been done)

Caution

With う-Verbs, there are a few verbs that are exceptions to the regular conjugation rules. Please check the structure guide for these.


Antonyms



Examples

--:--

    昨日(きのう)(ほん)()んだ
    昨日(きのう)(ほん)()みました

    I read a book yesterday.

    牛乳(ぎゅうにゅう)()んだ
    牛乳(ぎゅうにゅう)()みました

    I drank milk.

    ロンドン()んだ
    ロンドン()びました

    I flew to London.

    (わたし)たちチーム()った
    (わたし)たちチーム()ちました

    Our team won!

    メアリー日本(にほん)(かえ)った
    メアリー日本(にほん)(かえ)りました

    Mary returned to Japan.

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う-Verb (Past) – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (23 in total)

  • UltraKirby123

    UltraKirby123

    Has anyone come up with a good way to remember all the different structures? I feel like this shouldn’t be that hard, but it’s the fact that all of the structures are thrown at you at once that it makes it hard to memorize which one to use.

    I really do feel like this topic should be broken up into three or four distinct SRS cards/lessons.
    One for った
    One for いた
    One for んだ
    And maybe even one for the exceptions.

  • DDSmith1999

    DDSmith1999

    I’m glad to see I’m not the only one getting whooped by this card. I haven’t progressed on anything new to learn because I really want to hammer this out before I take on new cards.

  • BreadmanNin

    BreadmanNin

    Should it help anyone, there’s a simple but effective ta-conjugation practice tool here: Past Form Practice | Steven Kraft

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