The た-form is the plain affirmative past. It can report a past action or a completed event.
The idea
Make the て-form, then change て to た and で to だ: 書いて→書いた, 飲んで→飲んだ. Ichidan verbs drop る and add た. Irregular する→した and 来る→来た follow the same て-to-た correspondence.
| Starting form | Form or example |
|---|---|
| 買う／待つ／帰る | 買った／待った／帰った |
| 飲む／遊ぶ／死ぬ | 飲んだ／遊んだ／死んだ |
| 書く／泳ぐ | 書いた／泳いだ |
| 話す | 話した |
| 行く | 行った |
| 食べる／見る | 食べた／見た |
| する／来る | した／来た |
Examples
- 昨日、友達と公園へ行った。Yesterday I went to the park with a friend.
- 朝、パンを食べた。I ate bread this morning.
- 日曜日に家で映画を見た。On Sunday I watched a film at home.
- 先週、新しい本を買った。Last week I bought a new book.
- 田中さんは日本語を勉強した。Tanaka studied Japanese.
- 昨日、友達の話を聞いた。Yesterday I listened to a friend’s story.
- 昨日この本を読んだ。I read this book yesterday.
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Watch out
行く is exceptional: 行って becomes 行った, not 行いた. Some る verbs, such as 帰る, are godan. The plain ending is common in informal conversation; use ました for a polite sentence.
Try it yourself
「書く」→＿＿（た形）
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書いた
書いた: 書く has て-form 書いて, so いて becomes いた.
「飲む」→＿＿（た形）
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飲んだ
飲んだ: 飲む has て-form 飲んで; change で to だ.
「行く」→＿＿（た形）
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行った
行った: 行く is exceptional and follows 行って→行った.
「食べる」→＿＿（た形）
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食べた
食べた: remove る from the ichidan verb 食べる and add た.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Japanese sentences where available. We keep your score.
「書く」→＿＿（た形）
「飲む」→＿＿（た形）
「行く」→＿＿（た形）
「食べる」→＿＿（た形）
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Describe two things you did yesterday using different verb classes. Check each た-form against the table.