How to Modify Japanese Nouns with the – Japanese Ta Form –It’s time to level-up your Japanese speaking, listening, and reading skills! Today we’re going to learn how to make our own adjectives using the –ta form. Strap on your samurai helmets, and let’s get ready for battle!
Contents
-Ta -Ta for Now!: How to Modify Nouns with the -Ta Form
By now you’re familiar with i-adjectives and na-adjectives.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 赤い | akai | red |
| 綺麗（な） | kirei (na) | beautiful |
| 寒い | samui | cold |
You’re also familiar with some Japanese nouns.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 花 | hana | flower |
| 女 | onna | woman |
| 天気 | tenki | weather |
Put the two together and, voila! You have adjectives modifying nouns (REMEMBER: with na-adjectives you have to add na before the noun).
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 赤い花 | akai hana | red flower |
| 綺麗な女 | kirei-na onna | beautiful woman |
| 寒い天気 | samui tenki | cold weather |
Using Japanese Adjectives in the –Ta Form to Modify Nouns
Now that we’ve reviewed a few common adjectives and nouns, let’s conjugate the adjectives into the –ta form below.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 赤い ➡️ 赤かった | akai ➡️ akakatta | red ➡️ was red |
| 綺麗 (な) ➡️ 綺麗だった | kirei (na) ➡️ kirei datta | beautiful ➡️ was beautiful |
| 寒い ➡️ 寒かった | samui ➡️ samukatta | cold ➡️ was cold |
The reason adjectives are conjugated into the -ta form is to emphasize a previous state of being in the past (but not now). Here are some examples that express a past state of being.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 赤かった花 | akakatta hana | a flower that was red |
| 綺麗だった女 | Kirei datta onna | a woman that was beautiful |
| 寒かった天気 | samukatta tenki | weather that was cold |
Now, let’s throw these into a sentence for some context.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 赤かった花は黒くなりました。 | Akakatta hana wa kuroku narimashita. | The flower that used to be red turned black. |
| 若い時、綺麗だった女にバラをあげました。 | Wakai toki, kirei datta onna ni bara wo agemashita. | When I was young, I gave a rose to a beautiful woman (a woman that was beautiful). |
| 1958年の寒かった冬はとても辛いでした。 | Sen go-juu hachi (1958) nen no samukatta fuyu wa totemo tsurai deshita. | The cold winter of 1958 was very hard. |
Using Japanese Verbs in the –Ta Form to Modify Nouns
Now it’s time to take it a step further. Did you know that you could turn any verb into an adjective? Let’s start by reviewing a few common verbs.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 買う | kau | buy |
| 見る | miru | see |
| ある | aru | is / am / are (for non-living things) |
Now, let’s change these verbs into the casual past tense—or the -ta form.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 買った | katta | bought |
| 見た | mita | saw |
| あった | atta | was / were (for non-living things) |
Now that we’ve changed these verbs into the -ta form, we can use them to modify nouns. Putting a verb in the -ta form before a noun turns the verb into an adjective. Note that the -ta form is in the past tense. Therefore (in most cases) using the -ta form to modify nouns describes the noun as it was in the past. Also, only verbs in the casual –ta form can be turned into adjectives. You CANNOT use the formal deshita to modify a noun.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 買った花 | katta hana | the flower that was bought(lit. “the bought flower”) |
| 見た女 | mita onna | the beautiful woman that was seen (by someone)(lit. “the seen woman”) |
| あった天気 | atta tenki | the weather that was happening at the time(lit. “the there weather”) |
| WRONG! |
Now, let’s take it a step even further. When a verb is in the -ta form, it modifies everything after it (up until a certain point, but we’ll get into that later). Take a look at some examples below.
| Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 買った赤い花 | katta akai hana | the red flower that was bought(lit. “the bought red flower”) |
| 見た綺麗な女 | mita kirei-na onna | the beautiful woman that was seen (by someone)(lit. “the seen beautiful woman”) |
| あった寒い天気 | atta samui tenki | the cold weather that was happening at the time (lit. “the there cold weather”) |
Now, let’s make some sentences using the examples above. Note that the verb in the –ta form modifies everything after it only until a certain point. These certain points include at the end of a sentence (examples 1 and 2 below), at a break between two independent clauses (such as before “and” or “but”), or before a key particle (in example 3, atta stops modifying the words after it when it reaches the particle no after tenki.
Examples
| – | Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 1 | これは私が買った赤い花です。 | Kore wa watashi ga katta akai hana desu. | This is the red flower that I bought. |
| 2 | 彼女は彼が見た綺麗な女です。 | Kanojo wa kare ga mita kirei-na onna desu. | She is the beautiful woman that he saw. |
| 3 | 今日はロシアにあった寒い天気のようです。 | Kyou wa roshia ni atta samui tenki no you desu. | Today is like the cold weather that was in Russia. |
Now, let’s make a few longer sentences. Note that in example 4 below, katta stops modifying when it reaches wo after hana. In example 5, mita stops modifying when it reaches ga after onna. In example 6, atta stops modifying when it reaches wa after tenki.
| – | Japanese | Romaji | English |
| 4 | 私は買った赤い花を花瓶に入れました。 | Watashi wa katta akai hana wo kabin ni iremashita. | I put the red flower that I bought into a vase. |
| 5 | 彼は昨日見た綺麗な女が知り合いだと思っています。 | Kare wa kinou mita kirei-na onna ga shiriai da to omotte imasu. | He thinks he knows the beautiful woman he saw yesterday. |
| 6 | ロシアにあった天気は寒くて、指は紫色になりました！ | Roshia ni atta tenki wa samukute, yubi wa murasaki-iro ni narimashita! | The weather in Russia was so cold that my fingers turned purple! |
In summary, adjectives can be conjugated into the -ta form to express certain states of being in the past (for example, 好きだったクッキー [suki datta kukkii] [the cookie that I liked]). Verbs can also be conjugated into the -ta form to function as an adjective (for example, アップロードした写真 [appuroodo shita shashin] [the picture that was uploaded]). The adjective-turned verbs can then modify other words within the sentence up until a certain point; such as, the end of a sentence, between two independent clauses, or after a particle.
Now, it’s your turn to get out there and practice using adjectives to describe past states of being! Also, practice conjugating verbs into the -ta form and using them to modify nouns!
Get out there and practice, practice, practice!