Learn how to change adjectives to past tense in Japanese

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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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