Japanese conjugation guide

Past Indicative

Learn how to describe completed actions using plain and polite Japanese past-tense forms.

What does the past form express?

The Japanese past form describes an action or state completed before the time of speaking. Depending on context, it can correspond to English expressions such as “I ate” or “I have eaten”.

One form, more than one English translation

The best English translation depends on the surrounding sentence and conversation.

Japanese verb Possible English meanings
食べた tabeta I ate; I have eaten.
見た mita I saw; I have seen.

How to form the past indicative

Godan verbs use the Japanese ta-form pattern, while Ichidan verbs follow a simpler stem-plus-ending pattern.

Class 1

Godan or consonant-stem verbs

The plain positive ending depends on the verb’s final kana. The other past forms can be built from the non-past negative or polite forms.

Style
Positive
Negative
Plain
Use the ta-form
Change nai to nakatta
Polite
masu → mashita
masen deshita
Dictionary ending Past ending
う・つ・る — u, tsu, ruった — tta
む・ぬ・ぶ — mu, nu, buんだ — nda
く — kuいた — ita
ぐ — guいだ — ida
す — suした — shita
Important exception: 行く (iku, to go) becomes 行った (itta), not iita.
Class 2

Ichidan or vowel-stem verbs

Remove the final る (ru) from the dictionary form to obtain the stem, then add the required past ending.

Style
Positive
Negative
Plain
Stem + ta
Stem + nakatta
Polite
Stem + mashita
Stem + masen deshita
Example: 食べる → 食べた → 食べなかった → 食べました → 食べませんでした
taberu → tabeta → tabenakatta → tabemashita → tabemasen deshita

Past indicative example sentences

See Japanese past forms in complete sentences with English translations.

View past indicative examples