Past Tense of Verbs

Written by flutemajor14

Today is more about past tense! Instead of only covering です we will be adding past tense verb conjugations. Before moving on, vocabulary!

う-verbs
あう = To meet; to see (a person) (Person に)
かう = To buy (~を)
かく = To write (Person に thing を)
とる = To take (a picture) (~を)
まつ = To wait (~を)
わかる = To understand (~が)

First, remember we have 3 different groups of verbs. In this lesson, we only learn new う-verbs, so I`ll be referring back to words learned in a previous lesson for words from the other two groups. First, let`s practice conjugating in the present tense to see if we recall how to do so! Conjugate each word into present positive and negative.

  1. あう
  2. わかる
  3. おきる
  4. たべる
  5. する
  6. くる

Conjugate these verbs, and then look to the bottom for the answers to make sure you are doing it correctly. Now, going on. Essentially, the conjugation works the same way. There will only be changes to the ます and ました endings. For past, positive, ます will change to ました. For past, negative, ません becomes ませんてせした. Here are some examples.
う-verbs
かう ~ かいます　(buy/will buy)
かう ~ かいました (bought)
かう ~ かいません (don`t buy/won`t buy)
かう ~ かいませんてせした (didn`t buy)

る-verbs
ねる ~ ねます (sleep/will sleep)
ねる ~ ねました (slept)
ねる ~ ねません (don`t sleep/won`t sleep)
ねる ~ ねませんでした (didn`t sleep)

Irregulars
する = します (do/will do)
する = しました (did do)
する = しません (do not do/will not do)
する = しませんでした (did not do)
くる = きます (come)
くる = きました (came)
くる = きません (won`t come)
くる = きませんでした (didn`t come)

There is also no difference in sentence structure. The tense of the verb changes the tense of the sentence itself. Now, let`s practice! For reference, don`t forget to look at the required particles for the old and new verbs!

  1. I went to the super market.
  2. Sakura did not take a picture.
  3. I waited in front of the library.
  4. I did not understand.
  5. Kirito slept.
  6. On Monday, I did not watch TV.
  7. On Tuesday, I ate ice cream.
  8. On Sunday, I did not study Japanese.
  9. On Friday, I drank coffee at the cafe.
  10. On Thursday, I did not come to school.

Hopefully this all made sense. I`m not being super descriptive, but I hope it`s enough. Let me know if there`s anything I can do to clear up and problems/misunderstandings. Thanks to everyone who offered advice and suggestions already. I really appreciate and will take them into consideration and do my best to accommodate. Also, before going over answers, please take the time to check out my GoFundMe page! Read my story, share the link, and if you like what I`m doing and would like to support me in my time in Japan, please feel free to click the donate button. Every bit helps. I`m sending money home every month to cover my student loans and right now, it`s about half my paycheck every month because of the terrible exchange rate. Once things even out, it`ll get MUCH easier. Thank you to everyone who checks it out, shares, and donates. Every share counts as well! Anyway, here are your answers!

  1. あいます/あいません
  2. わかります/わかりません
  3. おきます/おきません
  4. たべます/たべません
  5. します/しません
  6. きます/きません

Now, onto the second set!

  1. わたしはスーパーにいきました。
  2. さくらさんはしゃしんをとりませんでした。
  3. わたしはとしょかんのまえでまちました。
  4. わたしはわかりませんでした。
  5. きりとさんはねました。
  6. わたしは月曜日にテレビをみませんでした。
  7. わたしは火曜日にアイスクリームをたべました。
  8. わたしは日曜日ににほんごをべんきょうしませんでした。
  9. わたしは金曜日にきっさてんでコーヒーをのみました。
  10. わたしは木曜日にがっこうにきませんでした。

がんばってください!

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