LESSON NOTES

Learn Japanese Grammar Video Absolute Beginner S1 #12

Past Forms of Adjectives in
Japanese

CONTENTS
2
2
2
2
2
3
3

Kanji
Kana
Romanization
English
Vocabulary
Sample Sentences
Grammar

12

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KANJI
1.

2.

KANA
1.

2.

ROMANIZATION
1.

Yokatta desu.

2.

Kirei deshita.

ENGLISH
1.

It was good.

2.

It was beautiful.

VOCABULARY
Kanji

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Kana

R omaji

English

oishii

delicious, tasty; Adj

(i)

LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #12 - PAST FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

taihen

hard, tough

totemo

very

tanoshii

enjoyable, fun; i-Adj

hanabi

fireworks

ii

good, nice, pleasant,

fine; Adj(i)

SAMPLE SENTENCES

Kore wa totemo oishii desu.

Taihen na ichinichi datta.

This is very tasty.

It was a rough day.

Kore wa totemo oishii desu.

Dizunrando wa tanoshii desu.

This is very tasty.

Disneyland is fun.

Kon'ya hanabi taikai ga arimasu.

Ii tenki desu ne.

There is a fireworks show tonight.

The weather is nice, isn't it?

GRAMMAR
T he Focus of T his Le sson Is Ne gat ive Forms of Adje ct ive s in Japane se

Past Te nse of Adje ct ive s

As we explained in the previous lessons, there are two different types of adjectives: iadjectives, and na-adjectives. How we conjugate these adjectives depends on the type.
In this lesson, we will learn how to create the past tense of both types of adjectives ("It
was ~").
i-Adje ct ive s
How do we create the informal past form?

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LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #12 - PAST FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

Step 1: Drop the final i ()

Step 2: Add katta ()
How do we create the formal past form?
Step 1: Drop the final i ()
Step 2: Add katta ()
Step 3: Add desu ()

English

i-adje ct ive

tanoshii

fun

delicious

oishii

Drop f inal i (
)

tanoshi-

Inf ormal Past

Add kat t a (
)

tanoshikatta

oishi-

oishikatta

Formal Past
Add kat t a
de su ()

tanoshikatta
desu

oishikatta
desu

Example s:
1.

:
Ashur: Totemo tanoshikatta desu.
Ashley: "I had a lot of fun!" (Literally, "It was a lot of fun.")

2.

:
Ashur: O-bent mo oishikatta desu.
Ashley: "The bento was good too."

Note that the i-adjective ii (), meaning "good" or "well," is an exception to this rule.
Non-past

Past

ii

yokatta desu

For all of the above examples, please remember that desu () only serves to make the
phrase polite and is not needed when speaking informal Japanese.
Example :

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LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #12 - PAST FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE

:
Honda Daisuke: Yokatta desu ne, Ashur-san.
Daisuke Honda: "Lucky you, Ashley!" (Literally, "That's great, Ashley!")
Na-Adje ct ive s
How do we create the informal past form?
Add datta () to the dictionary form
How do we create the informal past form?
Add deshita () to the dictionary form
Inf ormal Past
Add dat t a ()

Formal Past
Add de shit a (
)

English

na-adje ct ive

beautiful

kirei

kirei datta

kirei deshita

taihen

taihen datta

taihen deshita

tough

Example :
:
Ashur: Hanabi wa totemo kirei deshita.
Ashley: "The fireworks were really pretty."

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LEARN JAPANESE GRAMMAR VIDEO - ABSOLUTE BEGINNER S1 #12 - PAST FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN JAPANESE