4.5 Verbs in ~MASHITA Form

4.5 Verbs in ~MASHITA Form

The ~MASHITA form is the past tense of the ~MASU form.

"Watashi wa sushi wo tabemashita." means "I ate sushi."

The part of the verb before the ~MASHITA is the verb stem.

This part is easy!

From the ~MASU form, chop off the "MASU" and add "MASHITA."

Step 1:  tabemasu

Step 2:  chop off the "MASU"  -->  tabe

Step 3:  add "MASHITA"  -->  tabemashita

Nihongo	English
Watashi wa fuku wo kaimashita.	I bought clothes.
Anata wa fuku wo kaimashita.	You bought clothes.
Kanojo wa fuku wo kaimashita.	She bought clothes.
Kare wa fuku wo kaimashita.	He bought clothes.
Watashitachi wa fuku wo kaimashita.	We bought clothes.
Anatatachi wa fuku wo kaimashita.	You (plural) bought clothes.
Karera wa fuku wo kaimashita.	They bought clothes.

In Japanese, it's ok to drop the subject if it's understood who you are talking about. 

Read the conversation below:

Hiro:  Mayumi-san, kinou nani wo shimashita ka.

Mayumi:  Hon wo kaimashita.

In this situation, it's obvious that Mayumi-san is talking about what she did yesterday so she doesn't have to say "watashi wa" at the beginning of her response. 

Also note that Hiro-san avoided the use of "anata" by simply using Mayumi-san's name. 

While DESU is neither a RU (る) or う verb, it is still considered a verb (the technical term is "copula verb").

If you want to put DESU into the past tense, you change the す into した : DESHITA.

Daisuke-san wa seito desu.  =  Daisuke-san is a student.
Daisuke-san wa seito deshita. = Daisuke-san was a student.

Watashitachi wa tomodachi desu. = We are friends.
Watashitachi wa tomodachi deshita. = We were friends.