～た

RuleVerb ta-form: the plain past/perfective, matching the polite -mashita.

Curiosity

You have learned "tabemashita." So how do you make the plain past "ate" you would say to a friend?

Intuition

If you can build the te-form, the ta-form is free: just swap te for ta. The sound-change rules are exactly the same.

Visualization

taberu (dictionary) → tabeta (ta-form). Tap each step to follow the change.

食べるdictionary form

Essence

Ichidan: drop ~ru, add ~ta (taberu → tabeta). Godan use sound-change: kaku → kaita, oyogu → oyoida, nomu → nonda, matsu → matta, hanasu → hanashita. Irregular: suru → shita, kuru → kita, iku → itta.

Examples

昨日、寿司を食べた。

I ate sushi yesterday.

先週、京都へ行った。

I went to Kyoto last week.

もう宿題をした。

I already did my homework.

Mini-quiz

What is the ta-form of "kaku" (to write)?