polite negative past tense

Beginner

10-15 min

very common

Expert Reviewed

Explanation

Polite negative past tense form of verbs.

[Verb stem] + ませんでした

昨日行きませんでした。

Kinou ikimasen deshita.

I didn't go yesterday.

食べませんでした。

Tabemasen deshita.

I didn't eat.

Don't say ませんだった, the correct form is ませんでした.

ません (masen)

polite negative present/future

です/だ

to be (copula)

は (wa)

topic marker

が (ga)

subject marker

を (wo)

direct object marker

Describe what you didn't do: 昨日映画を見ませんでした (I didn't watch a movie yesterday).

JLPTBooks Editorial Team

Japanese Language Education Specialists

Last updated: Jan 15

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