Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 3: 13/13

い-Adjective (Past)

Was, Were (Past tense)

い-Adjectives, whether positive or negative, cannot be used with だ

Structure Legend

Structure

[い]Adjective[+ かった

Examples
おもしろ + かった
(あたら) + かった

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Adjective

  • Word Type

    Auxiliary Verb

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    形容詞

  • 単語の種類

    助動詞

  • 使用域

    一般

About い-Adjective (Past)

In order to create the past form of い-Adjectives, you must add the auxiliary verb た to the 'past' conjunction form of the い-Adjective. The past conjunction form is created by removing the い and replacing it with かっ. This structure is equivalent to 'was' in English.
面白(おもしろ)い - Base (dictionary form)
面白(おもしろ)かっ - Form used with た (and several other auxiliary verbs)
  • 風呂(ふろ)(あたた)かった
    The bath was lukewarm.
  • 昨日(きのう)(よる)(さむ)かった
    Last night was cold. (Literally 'yesterday's night')
From these examples, we can see how the casual past form is constructed. In modern Japanese, simply adding です after た is considered to be the standard polite past form.
  • 京都(きょうと)(すず)かったです
    Kyoto was cool. (In relation to temperature)
  • このケーキ(あま)かったです
    This cake was sweet.
Caution
Although this is considered to be polite by most people, using です after かった is not academically correct Japanese. However, considering how common its usage has become, it may be used in almost any situation confidently.

Examples

  • (さむ)かった。((さむ)

    It was cold.

  • それ(たか)かった。((たか)

    That was expensive.

  • 田中(たなか)さん(つよ)かったです。((つよ)

    Tanaka-san was strong.

  • (わたし)(あね)(いえ)(ふる)かったです。((ふる)

    My (older) sister's house was old.

  • 動物園(どうぶつえん)(たの)かった。((たの)しい

    The zoo was fun.

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い-Adjective (Past) – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (1 in total)

  • NoHiddenCosts

    NoHiddenCosts

    About 1 year ago

    If using “です” after “かった” is not “academically correct Japanese”, what is?

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