Since I personally focus on speaking Japanese and use romaji to learn, this post will only cover the spoken side; no hiragana, katakana, or kanji here. If you’re learning to read Japanese, I recommend using other resources or asking ChatGPT for guidance.
(Feel free to check out the r/languagelearning and r/LearnJapanese subreddits for extra resources or recommendations).
🔰 I don’t have any certificates, just a learner sharing what I know, so if I get something wrong, feel free to double-check or correct me!
💬 I’m still learning Japanese too, (on my journey from bronze to grandmaster), I document everything in my weekly language progress logs.
Every week I post a page with:
- A short speaking video or update
- My test assessment
- Notes and improvements
- What rank I’m at (from Bronze to Grandmaster)
👉 Check out the Language Progress Glossary Here
This is the second part of the past tense series focusing on -i adjectives in Japanese. In this post, we’ll cover both past and negative past tense forms.
Since I’m only using romaji here, it’s easier to recognize -i adjectives compared to na-adjectives, especially when using hiragana. While most -i adjectives end with -i, be aware that a few na-adjectives also end in -i (like kirei or yuumei), so they can be tricky.
🔗 If you haven’t learned how to make the negative form of -i adjectives yet, check out my post on that first!
👉 Japanese negations for adjectives
✅ How to Form the Past Tense of -i Adjectives
To turn an -i adjective into past tense:
- Drop the final -i
- Add -katta
If you want to make it polite, add desu at the end of your sentence.
✅ Examples:
- aoi → aokatta (blue → was blue)
- abunai → abunakatta (dangerous → was dangerous)
- ii → yokatta (good → was good)
- Note: ii becomes yoi when conjugated!
- osoi → osokatta (slow → was slow)
- karui → karukatta (light → was light)
- suzushii → suzushikatta (cool → was cool, used for temperature/weather)
📝 Sentence Examples (Past Tense):
- Tabeta no sushi wa mazukatta. – The sushi I ate tasted bad.
- Nii-chan no heya wa kitanakatta. – My brother’s room was dirty.
- Ano eiga wa tsumanakatta. – That movie was boring.
- Gakkou no kyoushitsu wa hirokatta. – The school classroom was spacious.
- Oba-chan wa yasashikatta. – Grandma was kind.
- Ahh, atarashii no Pokemon gemu ga hoshikatta. – Ahh, I wanted that new Pokémon game.
❌ How to Form the Negative Past Tense of -i Adjectives
This is a two-step process:
- Change the -i to kunai (present negative)
- Then drop the final -i in kunai and add -katta
→ You’ll get kunakatta
❌ Examples:
- isogashii → isogashikunai → isogashikunakatta
(busy → not busy → was not busy) - kurai → kurakunai → kurakunakatta
(dark → not dark → was not dark) - takai → takakunai → takakunakatta
(expensive → not expensive → was not expensive) - sabishii → sabishikunai → sabishikunakatta
(lonely → not lonely → was not lonely) - itai → itakunai → itakunakatta
(painful → not painful → was not painful) - yowai → yowakunai → yowakunakatta
(weak → not weak → was not weak)
📝 Sentence Examples (Negative Past Tense):
- Ano kuma wa ookikunakatta.
→ That bear was not big. - Yuenchi ni ita wa tanoshikunakatta to omou.
→ I think the amusement park I went to wasn’t fun. - Kaze wa tsuyokunakatta.
→ The wind wasn’t strong. - Watashi no neko wa kowakunakatta.
→ My cat wasn’t scared. - Eki wa tooikunakatta.
→ The station wasn’t far. - Ano hon wa omoshirokunakatta.
→ That book wasn’t interesting.
🧾 Summary
✅ Past Tense:
Drop -i, add -katta
🔹 Example: omoshiroi → omoshirokatta
❌ Negative Past Tense:
Change -i to kunai, then kunai → kunakatta
🔹 Example: takai → takakunai → takakunakatta
🔹 Add desu for polite sentences
This is one of the most essential patterns in Japanese, especially when describing things or people in the past. It gets easier with practice, and since pronunciation isn’t tone-sensitive like Chinese, don’t worry too much about stressing the endings, just make sure it’s clear in writing, especially if you ever switch to hiragana.
🧱 Why I Learn This Way
While I continue learning Japanese and other languages, I also make money online through beermoney apps. It’s not much, but it helps me feel like I’m turning my free time into something more productive and fun.
👇 Check out my glossaries below
💸 Beermoney Glossary:
Curious how much money you can realistically make online from surveys, games, ads, and small tasks? Check out my Beermoney Glossary page, where I break down every app and site I’ve tried with videos, payment proof, and my personal experiences. I always recommend doing beermoney while watching shows, anime, gaming, or handling small tasks around the house.
👉 Beermoney reviews
📈 Monthly Earnings Tracker:
Want to see exactly what I cashed out every month? My Monthly Earnings Tracker has screenshots of my app cashouts, plus updates on my trading and investment accounts, all in one place, month by month.
👉 Monthly earnings
🌍 Language Learning Glossary:
Curious what languages I’m learning? Check out my Language Learning Glossary for weekly progress updates. I post short speaking videos, track my progress, share my personal study notes, and break down the rank criteria I follow.
👉 Language progress