Lesson notes · ≈ JLPT N5 · Beginner 1
past state, affirmative or negative
Use 「〜でした／〜じゃありませんでした」 for past states of な-adjectives and nouns.
Looking at yesterday’s photo today, use 「でした」 to recall how beautiful the park was then.
The park wasn’t beautiful yesterday. The two expressions in the picture mean the same thing: both negate a past state.
Attach 「でした」 directly to the stem of a な-adjective. Do not add 「な」 in 「きれいでした」.
Past negative of a な-adjective: stem + 「じゃありませんでした」. The stem stays unchanged.
Nouns can also take 「でした」. 「学生でした」 means someone was a student in the past.
The past negative of a noun uses the same two endings, as in 「学生じゃなかったです」.
A past form only tells us what things were like then. It alone cannot tell us whether they are the same now.
Although 「きれい」 in the examples ends in 「い」, it is a な-adjective. Do not remove the 「い」.
Compare with 「楽しかったです」, which you have already learned: い-adjectives and な-adjectives have different past endings.
It was beautiful.
It wasn't beautiful.
A: How was Paris?
B: It was fun. The Louvre Museum and other places were wonderful. But it wasn't very safe.
A: Where is the photo of the park?
A: Which was more lively, Japan or Shanghai?
Level 1 · Recognise
Which sentence is correct?
Level 1 · Recognise
Listen and choose the meaning
Level 2 · Build
Put the words in order
Ueno Park was beautiful.
Level 3 · Use
What goes in the blank?
公園はきれい 。
The park was beautiful.
B: It's Ueno Park. Ueno Park was beautiful.
B: Nanjing Road in Shanghai was very lively.
