Learn how to change adjectives to past tense in Japanese
Today I’m going to teach on changing Japanese adjectives into negatives. So what adjectives did we learn in the last post?
For い adjectives
あつい、熱い becomes あつかった です(was hot, was warm)
さむい、寒い becomes さむかった です(was cold)
To make an い adjective into a past tense, you simple drop the い and replace it with かった です. Note that you are learning the polite form because there is a です. If you want to make it a plain form because you are talking with your good Japanese friend, remove the です. So it’s just simply さむかった
For な adjectives
きれい、綺麗 becomes きれい でした(was pretty)
かんたん、簡単 becomes かんたん でした(was easy)
And for な adjectives, you simply add a でした after it, without the な. The でした is actually a past tense for です. So for example:
For present tense -> わたし の ほん です (It’s my book)
For past tense -> わたし の ほん でした (It was my book)
To make it into plain forms
です becomes だ Example: わたし の ほん だ (It’s my book)
でした becomes だった Example: わたし の ほん だった (It was my book)
There you have it. Now let’s learn how to change negative adjectives into past tense.
For い adjectives
あつくない、熱くない becomes あつくなかった (Was not hot)
さむくない、寒くない becomes さむくなかった(Was not cold)
So you can see, you can change it into a negative past tense by dropping the い in the ない, and replacing it with かった again.
And for な adjectives
きれい じゃない becomes きれい じゃなかった
かんたん じゃない becomes かんたん じゃなかった
You probably have notice, the ない form which also means “not or nothing” can also be made into a past tense. So ない becomes なかった.
So this is how you learn Japanese:) That’s all for today’s post. We shall learn more new Japanese words in the next post
While you learn Japanese, make sure to have a good lighting, a proper table and good pen and paper. Till then, enjoy learning Japanese
がんばって!
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