| Present and future tense
The present and future tense are formed by using the rentaikei
conjugation. Japanese doesn't have a separate future tense so whether
a sentence is present or future tense needs to be deducted from
the context.
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犬が吠える。(Inu ga hoeru.)
The dog barks.
明日、行く。(Ashita, iku.)
I will leave tomorrow. |
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Past tense
The past tense is constructed by adding た (ta) to the ren'youkei
conjugation. This combination results in several contractions. Please
refer to the ren'youkei
+ た (ta) page for more details.
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犬が吠えった。(Inu ga hoetta.)
The dog barked.
寒かった。(Samukatta.)
It was cold. |
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The gerund
The gerund is formed by combining the ～て (-te) form with いる (iru).
The ren'youkei + て (te) undergoes the same contractions as the ren'youkei
+ た (ta). Please refer to the ren'youkei
+ て (te) page for more details.
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犬が吠えっている。(Inu ga hoette iru.)
The dog is barking.
犬が吠えっていった。(Inu ga hoette itta.)
The dog was barking. |
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NOTE: When combined with the negative
form the gerund adopts a special function.
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ご飯はまだ食べていない。(Go-han wa mada tabete inai.)
I have not had dinner yet.
ご飯はまだ食べていなかった。(Go-han wa mada tabete inakatta.)
I had not had dinner yet. |
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When the ～て (-te) form is combined with いる (iru) the い (i) is often
dropped in the spoken language.
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犬が吠えってる。(Inu ga hoetteru.)
The dog is barking.
ご飯はまだ食べてなかった。(Go-han wa mada tabetenakatta.)
I had not had dinner yet. |
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The perfect
The perfect is formed by combining the ～て (-te) form with ある (aru)
for transitive verbs and by combining the ～て (-te) form with いる
(iru) for intransitive verbs.
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手紙が書いてある。(Tegami ga kaite aru.)
The letter has been written.
車が止まっている。(Kuruma ga tomatte iru.)
The car has stopped. |
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NOTE: Since the letter is now the
subject, it is followed by the subject particle が (ga).
The pluperfect / the past perfect
The perfect is formed by combining the ～て (-te) form with あった (atta)
for transitive verbs and by combining the ～て (-te) form with いった
(itta) for intransitive verbs.
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手紙が書いてあった。(Tegami ga kaite atta.)
The letter had been written.
車が止まっていった。(Kuruma ga tomatte itta.)
The car had stopped. |
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Related pages:
Ren'youkei
+ た (ta)
Ren'youkei
+ て (te) |
