Lesson 2 of 8
Verb Lab B — four cells, one verb
about 8 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Produce all four polite forms of a known verb: present, past, negative and negative past.
- Use the noun pattern じゃありませんでした where a verb would take ませんでした, and say why they are not interchangeable.
Words this lesson teaches
- とどきます
- to arrive (of a delivery)
- おくります
- to send
- なおします
- to fix, to repair
- しめます
- to close (something)
- にもつ
- a parcel, luggage
- けさ
- this morning
- やすみ
- a day off, a break
- じゅんび
- preparation, getting things ready
What it explains
Four shapes, and only one of them is assembled
A polite verb has four shapes and no more. とどきます, とどきません, とどきました, とどきませんでした. Read across for time, down for yes and no. Three of them are a single swap on the end. The fourth is built: negative past is the negative ません with でした added on after it. It is not とどきませんかった. That form does not exist. It gets built anyway, constantly, because い-adjectives genuinely do work that way — たかい becomes たかくなかった — and the ear expects verbs to match. They do not. If you catch yourself reaching for ませんかった, the fix is always ませんでした.
Nouns get four of their own, out of different parts
やすみです, やすみじゃありません, やすみでした, やすみじゃありませんでした. Same grid, different pieces: the negative comes from じゃありません and the past from でした, and the negative past stacks them in that order. Do not put ませんでした on a noun to save time. やすみませんでした is a real sentence — it is the verb やすみます, and it says somebody did not take a break, which is close to the opposite of what you meant.