Japanese Past Tense Verb and Adjective Conjugations, Simplified

Japanese verbs go at the end of a sentence, which means you may not…

Japanese verbs go at the end of a sentence, which means you may not know whether the context is in the past, present, or future right away. The same is often true for adjectives, which get conjugated in Japanese. Although it takes some work, it’s especially vital that you understand the Japanese past tense verb conjugation when it finally arrives so you can piece the sentence together.

No matter what character a verb or adjective ends in, discover the rules to conjugate it in this guide. Keep these charts handy as you learn Japanese and become a conjugation master.

Is there a past tense in Japanese?

Japanese has a past tense for both verbs and adjectives. While the adjective conjugations are easy to implement, past tense verbs in Japanese have a lot of variation in their conjugations. Fortunately, the rules are formulaic, so once you know what the rule is, you’ll find very few exceptions.

Although the past and non-past tense conjugations are different from each other, having a basic understanding of Japanese verb conjugation rules will help you comprehend.

Charts for polite past tense verb conjugations

Japanese verbs come in two broad categories: polite form and plain form. Understanding when to use formal vs. informal speech in Japanese is critical in social situations. As the name implies, polite form is generally used for daily conversation as a go-to level of formality. On the other hand, plain can be used for casual speech, but you can also find it in the middle of sentences when it’s not the main verb.

Japanese has three types of verbs, all of which have slightly different conjugation rules:

• Ichidan (一段): Verbs that end in the character ru (る).
• Godan (五段): Verbs that end in a character with an “u” sound, sometimes including ru.
• Irregular: Verbs for “to do” and “to come.”

The verb (or copula) for “to be” has unique conjugation rules.

These charts start with the polite form conjugations, also known as masu-form (based on its affirmative present tense form).

Ichidan verbs

Verbs that end in ru have the simplest conjugation rules.

• Affirmative past: Drop the ru and add –mashita (～ました).
• Negative past: Drop the ru and add –masen-deshita (～ませんでした).

If you’re already familiar with present tense conjugations, you’ll recognize that the negative past is the negative present conjugation plus -deshita (～でした).

Remember that, in Japanese word order, verbs go at the end of a sentence rather than in the middle (sometimes followed by a particle).

• Sandoicchi o rokko tabemashita ne.（サンドイッチを六個食べましたね。）= You ate six sandwiches!
  

Godan verbs

Godan verb conjugations all have a slightly unique variation. Before adding the standard conjugation ender, the final character of the dictionary form (which ends in an “u” sound) is changed to the character in the same consonant row that ends in an “i” sound.

• Affirmative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “i” sound and add –mashita (～ました).
• Negative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “i” sound and add –masen-deshita (～ませんでした).

• Oyogimashita ka.（泳ぎましたか。）= Did you swim?
  
  • Lie, oyogimasen-deshita. Hashirimashita.（いいえ、泳ぎませんでした。走りました。）= No, I did not swim. I ran.
    

Irregular verbs

Japanese only has two irregular verbs. Although the way the first character changes is unique to each of them, the enders are the same as any other verb.

“To do” is extremely versatile, and you can pair it with all kinds of activities to create a specific verb.

• Kinō, kanojo wa tenisu o shimashita.（昨日、彼女はテニスをしました。）= She played tennis yesterday. (Literally: She did tennis yesterday.)
  

‘To be’ verb

The “to be” verb desu is exceedingly common, but its conjugation rules are unique.

Desu actually has several negative Japanese past tense conjugations. For the polite form, de wa arimasen-deshita（ではありませんでした) is also acceptable.

• Watashi wa gakusei deshita.（私は学生でした。）= I was a student.
  

• Watashi wa gakusei ja arimasen-deshita.（私は学生じゃありませんでした。）= I wasn’t a student.

Charts for plain past tense verb conjugations

While ichidan verbs are simple to conjugate into plain Japanese past tense, godan verbs are considerably more involved. As you see in Japanese te-form conjugations, the final character of the dictionary form changes the Japanese past tense conjugation.

Ichidan verbs

Like polite form, the plain form conjugation for past tense is straightforward for ichidan verbs.

• Affirmative past: Drop the ru and add –ta (～た).
• Negative past: Drop the ru and add –nakatta (～なかった).

• Kirei na yama mo mita.（きれいな山も見た。）= I saw some beautiful mountains.

Godan verbs that end in u, tsu, or ru

The first set of godan verbs—those that end in u (う), tsu (つ), or ru (る)—is similar to ichidan verbs. All plain negative Japanese past tense conjugations for godan verbs involve changing the final “u” sound to an “a” sound, but those that end in the character u change to wa (わ) instead of a (あ).

• Affirmative past: Drop the final character and add –tta (～った).
• Negative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “a” sound and add –nakatta (～なかった).

• Kanojo wa fuku o katta.（彼女は服を買った。）= She bought clothes.

Godan verbs that end in mu, bu, or nu

When a godan verb ends in mu (む), bu (ぶ), or nu (ぬ), the affirmative conjugations start to get a little more different.

• Affirmative past: Drop the final character and add –nda (～んだ).
• Negative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “a” sound and add –nakatta (～なかった).

• Kanojo wa mō gyūnyū o sanbun no ichi nonda.（彼女はもう牛乳を三分の一飲んだ。）= She already drank a third of the milk.

Godan verbs that end in ku

With one exception, verbs that end in ku (く) have their own conjugation.

• Affirmative past: Drop the final character and add –ita (～いた).
• Negative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “a” sound and add –nakatta (～なかった).

The verb “to go” (iku, 行く) is the exception and has a unique affirmative conjugation.

• Sūpā ni itta toki ni, ninjin o katta.（スーパーに行った時に、にんじんを買った。）= I bought carrots when I went to the grocery store.

Godan verbs that end in gu

Because gu (ぐ) is the voiced version of ku (く), their conjugations are very similar, only changing the final ta (た) to its voiced version, da (だ).

• Affirmative past: Drop the final character and add –ida (～いだ).
• Negative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “a” sound and add –nakatta (～なかった).

• Senshū no kayōbi ni, watashi wa ichi kiro oyoida.（先週の火曜日に、私は一キロ泳いだ。）= I swam a kilometer last Tuesday.

Godan verbs that end in su

Verbs that end in su (す) feel like they resemble masu-form because they also appear to change the final “u” sound to the corresponding “i” sound, but the ender is ultimately different. 

• Affirmative past: Drop the final character and add –shita (～した).
• Negative past: Change the final “u” sound to an “a” sound and add –nakatta (～なかった).

• Yonjūgofunkan hanashita.（四十五分間話した。）= He spoke for forty-five minutes.

Irregular verbs

The irregular verbs continue to have their own rules, but it’s worth pointing out the plain negative Japanese past tense conjugation of kuru in particular. Instead of changing to ki, the first character changes to ko.

• Kanojo wa shigoto ni hayaku kita.（彼女は仕事に早く来た。）= She came early for work.

‘To be’ verb

The plain Japanese past tense conjugations for desu are also unique, but similar enough to other verbs that you’ll find them relatively simple to remember.

You can also use de wa nakatta (ではなかった) or ja nakatta desu (じゃなかったです) to make the negative past conjugation slightly more polite.

• Jūni doru datta.（十二ドルだった。）= They were twelve dollars.
• Jūni doru ja nakatta.（十二ドルじゃなかった。）= They weren’t twelve dollars.

Japanese past tense adjectives and nouns

Unlike English, Japanese adjectives also conjugate based on politeness and tense. Thankfully, they’re much simpler than verbs and stick to the same conjugation rules.

i-adjectives 

Adjectives that end in i (い), with one exception, all conjugate the same way. Polite form dictates that you add desu (the verb for “to be”) to the end of the conjugation.

• Affirmative past: Drop the final i and add –katta desu (～かったです).
• Negative past: Change the final i to ku and add –nakatta desu (～なかったです).

The one exception is the adjective ii (いい), meaning “good.” In addition to the standard rules, the first i changes to yo (よ). It’s a fairly common word, so you’ll get plenty of practice.

For the plain form conjugation, just drop desu and you’re done!

• Watashitachi wa wakakatta desu.（私たちは若かったです。）= We were young.
  
  • Watashitachi wa wakakatta.（私たちは若かった。）= We were young.

na-adjectives and nouns 

The conjugations for na-adjectives and Japanese nouns are identical because na-adjectives are actually “adjectival nouns.” The na (な) for which na-adjectives are named is only added when they go before a noun.

As a result, the Japanese past tense conjugations for na-adjectives and nouns is really just the past tense conjugation of the “to be” verb, desu (です). 

• Affirmative past: Add –deshita (～でした).
• Negative past: Add –ja arimasen-deshita (～じゃありませんでした) or any of its variants.

For the plain Japanese past tense conjugations, the corresponding conjugation of desu is added again.

• Affirmative past: Add –datta (～だった).
• Negative past: Add –ja nakatta (～じゃなかった) or any of its variants.

• Kinō wa kanojo no tanjōbi deshita.（昨日は彼女の誕生日でした。）Her birthday was yesterday.
  
  • Kinō wa kanojo no tanjōbi datta.（昨日は彼女の誕生日だった。）Her birthday was yesterday.

Put flashcards in the past with Rosetta Stone

There’s no denying that Japanese past tense conjugations are more involved than the present and future (or non-past) conjugations. To complete your mastery of Japanese verbs and adjectives, you’ll need to know how to match the tense to the situation. The more you use them, the faster you’ll be able to use them in conversation.

Although you can readily learn vocabulary with flashcards, conjugations are best studied in context. By using the Rosetta Stone app, you’ll encounter new words and grammar with pictures, native audio, and complete sentences. With this method, you’ll learn Japanese in the same natural way you learned your native language!

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