Practicing でした

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau

Let’s take a look at some practice sentences really quick – very similar to what you just did.

でんしゃでした ＝　It was a train

ねこでした ＝　It was a cat

いぬでした ＝　It was a dog

りんご でした ＝　It was an apple

しんぶん でした ＝　It was a newspaper

So, you know this pattern pretty well. Let’s make these longer. Can you translate the following phrases into Japanese?

Was it a train?

でんしゃでしたか？

Yes, It was a train

はい、でんしゃでした

Now, translate the following sentences into English.

りんごですか？

Is it an apple?

りんごじゃありません

It is not an apple

りんごでしたか？

Was it an apple?

はい、りんごでした

Yes, it was an apple

Of course, just like anything else, you can make past tense into a question too. Just add か to it, as we learned in the “Asking Questions” chapter.

In theory, this chapter should have been easier than the previous few. It’s the same thing with only one thing switched out and changed! There is more practice, though. See the next page to practice some more!

When you have an understanding of this grammar point, it’s time to practice everything together! Make sure you’ve studied the first common nouns deck, the kanji, and the first kanji vocab decks before moving on to practice, because we will be using those things there!

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Bounty?