Past Indicative

Production Rules:

Inflection Examples:

Irregulars:

Usage Notes & Examples:

1. This form is used to express an action completed in the past, and in general can be used where the simple past tense is used in English.
   • 昨日のクラスの後で、先生と話した。
     kinou no kurasu no ato de, sensei to hanashita.
     After yesterday's class, I spoke with the teacher.
   • 去年の会議に出なかったから河村さんに会わなかった。
     kyonen no kaigi ni denakatta kara kawamura-san ni awanakatta.
     Because I didn't attend last year's meeting I didn't meet Mr. Kawamura.
   • 東京の周りに電車に乗りました。
     toukyou no mawari ni densha ni norimashita.
     We rode a train around Tokyo.
   • 景色は素晴らしかったですが、あまり写真を撮りませんでした。
     keshiki wa subarashikatta desu ga, amari shashin wo torimasen deshita.
     The scenery was splendid, but I didn't take many photographs.
2. Placing the plain affirmative or negative of this form before a noun or noun phrase creates a relative clause. In English, a relative clause is often set apart by who, that, which, etc., but in Japanese there is no connecting word. Instead, Japanese has a simple rule that modifiers come before the things they modify.
   • 昨日来た郵便屋さん
     kinou kita yuubin'ya-san
     the postman who came yesterday
   • 死んだネズミ
     shinda nezumi
     the mouse that died [or, "the dead mouse"]
   • 泳がなかった子ども
     oyoganakatta kodomo
     children who didn't swim
   • 木から落ちたリンゴ
     ki kara ochita ringo
     the apple that fell from the tree
3. With certain verbs the past tense creates a description of a current state based on a change of state that occurred in the past. In translation, sometimes English will use the past participle of a verb, and other times an adjective. In English, however, even if a past participle of a verb is used to describe the state, the sentence is often expressed most naturally in present tense.
   • 疲れた。
     tsukareta.
     I'm tired. [I became tired.]
   • テレビが壊れました。
     terebi ga kowaremashita.
     The television is broken. [The television broke.]
   • お腹が空いたし、のどが渇いた。
     onaka ga suita shi, nodo ga kawaita.
     I'm hungry and also thirsty. [My stomach emptied and my throat dried.]
4. This form is a perfective, which means that it expresses the meaning that the action is completed. In a negative sentence with the adverb まだ (mada), meaning "not yet" in a negative construction, the equivalent English sentence will use a past tense. In Japanese, the progressive construction is used instead. See the section on progressive form for more information.
   • 大阪でまだ何も見ていません。
     oosaka de mada nanimo mite imasen.
     I haven't seen anything in Osaka yet.
   • 昨日君にもらったケーキをまだ食べていない。
     kinou kimi ni moratta keeki wo mada tabete inai.
     I haven't yet eaten the cake you gave me yesterday.