Latest / Learn Japanese with Fexingo / Japanese Simple Past Tense Basics
Transcript
- Lucas: Hey Luna, welcome back to Learn Japanese with Fexingo! Luna: Hey Lucas! I'm so ready. What are we learning today? Lucas: Today we're going to talk about the past. You know how to say 'I eat' in Japanese, right? Luna: Yeah! That's 食べます — tabemasu. Lucas: Perfect. But what if you want to say 'I ate'? Like yesterday you had sushi. Luna: Ohh, good question. Is it different? Lucas: It is. For polite verbs, you change ます to ました. So 食べます becomes 食べました. Luna: たべました... tabemashita. That sounds so smooth. Lucas: Right? So let's practice. Can you say 'I ate sushi'? Luna: Umm... すしをたべました? Sushi o tabemashita? Lucas: Exactly! すしを食べました. You got it. Luna: Oh, that's so good! So ました is like 'did'. Lucas: Exactly. Now let's try another verb. 'I see' is 見ます. Luna: So 'I saw' would be 見ました! Mimasu → mimashita. Lucas: Yes! 見ました. For example, 映画を見ました — I saw a movie. Luna: えいがをみました. Eiga o mimashita. Nice. Lucas: Now how about 'I go'? 行きます. Luna: Let me think... Ikimasu becomes ikimashita? 行きました? Lucas: Perfect! 行きました. So 公園に行きました — I went to the park. Luna: こうえんにいきました. Kōen ni ikimashita. Lucas: Great job. Now let's mix in something from last time. Remember 暑い? Hot? Luna: Yeah! 今日は暑いです — Today is hot. Lucas: Right. But for past tense with adjectives, it's a little different. You drop the い and add かったです. So 暑い becomes 暑かったです. Luna: あつかったです. Atsukatta desu. Lucas: Yep! So 昨日は暑かったです — Yesterday was hot. Luna: きのうはあつかったです. Kinō wa atsukatta desu. Lucas: Perfect. Let's do a little scene. Imagine yesterday was hot, and I went to a park and saw a movie. Luna: Okay! Let me try: 昨日は暑かったです. 公園に行きました. 映画を見ました. Lucas: That's perfect! Kinō wa atsukatta desu. Kōen ni ikimashita. Eiga o mimashita. Luna: Oh, I love that I can say a whole story now! Lucas: You can! And you've also used 食べました earlier. Let's put it all together. How about: I ate sushi, I went to the park, and I saw a movie. Luna: Hmm... すしを食べました. 公園に行きました. 映画を見ました. Lucas: Yes! But you can connect them with て form later. For now, just listing is fine. Luna: Good to know. So the pattern for verbs is just changing ます to ました? Lucas: Exactly. For polite verbs, past tense is always ました. Let's review our key phrases: 食べました, 見ました, 行きました, and 暑かったです. Luna: たべました, みました, いきました, あつかったです. Lucas: You've got it! Now try saying: I ate bread this morning. Luna: 今朝、パンを食べました. Kesa, pan o tabemashita. Lucas: Perfect! And what about: I watched a movie last night? Luna: 昨夜、映画を見ました. Sakuya, eiga o mimashita. Lucas: Beautiful. And: I went to the station? Luna: 駅に行きました. Eki ni ikimashita. Lucas: Yes! And: It was warm yesterday? Remember 暖かい. Luna: 暖かい → 暖かかったです. 昨日は暖かかったです? Lucas: Exactly! 暖かかったです. You're a natural. Luna: Thanks! This is so useful. Now I can talk about my weekend! Lucas: Exactly. And next time we can add more verbs. For now, practice these four phrases. Repeat them a few times today. Luna: Will do! 食べました, 見ました, 行きました, 暑かったです. Lucas: That's it for today's Fexingo lesson. Keep practicing, and we'll be back soon with more Japanese. Luna: See you next time! またね！