| Let's look at the sentence pattern. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| Noun + は/が + adjective (past tense) です |
| [Noun] + wa/ga + adjective (past tense) desu. |
| [Noun] was/were [adjective]. |
| We use this pattern to make polite past-tense sentences. |
| Let's look at the particles は (wa) and が (ga), first. |
| You can use either は (wa) or が (ga), but they have slightly different nuances. When you are talking about something that’s already known or is the main topic of the conversation, use は (wa). When you want to focus attention on a particular noun or when you're introducing new information, use が (ga). |
| After the noun marked by は or が, we use an adjective in its past tense form to describe the noun. Japanese adjectives change their endings when used in past tense—い-adjectives usually change from ～い (~i) to ～かった (~katta), then we add です to keep the sentence polite. For な-adjectives, we just add ～でした (~deshita). Both ～かったです and ～でした are polite past tense endings. |
| Let’s see how a line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| さくらが ほんとうに きれいでしたね｡ |
| In this sentence: |
| さくら (sakura) is the noun, and it's marked by the particle が (ga), indicating it as the specific subject being described. |
| ほんとうに (hontou ni) means 'really' or 'truly,' emphasizing the adjective. An adverb like this is not always included in this pattern, but it can be put here. |
| The adjective here is きれいでした (kirei deshita). きれい (kirei) is a な-adjective meaning 'beautiful,' and when combined with でした (deshita), it becomes past tense, meaning 'was beautiful.' |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| はこだての すしは おいしかったです。 (Hakodate no sushi wa oishikatta desu.) |
| "The sushi in Hakodate was delicious." |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Here, 「はこだての すし」 is the noun, meaning "the sushi in Hakodate." This noun is followed by the particle 「は」(wa), which marks it as the topic of the sentence. The word 「おいしかった」 is the past tense form of the adjective 「おいしかった」(oishikatta), and the sentence is completed with 「です」(desu) to make it polite. |
| Here's another example |
| きのうの サッカーの しあいは すごかったですね。 (Kinō no sakkā no shiai wa sugokatta desu ne.) |
| "Yesterday’s soccer match was amazing, wasn’t it?" |
| きのうの サッカーの しあいは すごかったですね。 (Kinō no sakkā no shiai wa sugokatta desu ne.) |
| "Yesterday’s soccer match was amazing, wasn’t it?" |
| Let's try one more, |
| きのうの えいがは おもしろくなかったです。 (Kinō no eiga wa omoshirokunakatta desu.) |
| "Yesterday’s movie was not interesting." |
| きのうの えいがは おもしろくなかったです。 (Kinō no eiga wa omoshirokunakatta desu.) |
| "Yesterday’s movie was not interesting." |
| Another one. |
| さんすうの テストは よくなかったです。 (Sansū no tesuto wa yokunakatta desu.) |
| "The math test was not good." |
| さんすうの テストは よくなかったです。 (Sansū no tesuto wa yokunakatta desu.) |
| "The math test was not good." |
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