Grammar Info
N5 Lesson 3: 13/13

かった
Was, Were (past tense)

い-Adjectives, whether positive or negative, cannot be used with だ

Structure
Casual
Polite
[い]Adjective[+ かった

Examples
おもしろ + かった
新し + かった
[い]Adjective[+ かった + です

Examples
おもしろ + かった + です
新し + かった + です
Details
Part of Speech Adjective
Word Type Auxiliary Verb
Register Standard
品詞 形容詞
単語の種類 助動詞
使用域 一般
Information
In order to create the past form of い-Adjectives, you must add the auxiliary verb た to the ‘past’ conjunction form of the い-Adjective. The past conjunction form is created by removing the い and replacing it with かっ. This structure is equivalent to ‘was’ in English.
面白(おもしろ)い - Base (dictionary form)
面白(おもしろ)かっ - Form used with た (and several other auxiliary verbs)
  • お風呂(ふろ)温(あたたか)かった
    The bath was lukewarm.
  • 昨日(きのう)夜(よる)寒(さむ)かった
    Last night was cold. (Literally ‘yesterday’s night’)
From these examples, we can see how the casual past form is constructed. In modern Japanese, simply adding です after た is considered to be the standard polite past form.
  • 京都(きょうと)涼(すず)しかったです
    Kyoto was cool. (In relation to temperature)
  • このケーキ甘(あま)かったです
    This cake was sweet.
Caution
Although this is considered to be polite by most people, using です after かった is not academically correct Japanese. However, considering how common its usage has become, it may be used in almost any situation confidently.
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寒(さむ)かった。[寒(さむ)い]
It was cold.
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それ高(たか)かった。[高(たか)い]
That was expensive.
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田中(たなか)さん強(つよ)かったです。[強(つよ)い]
Tanaka-san was strong.
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Genki 1
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