GRAMMAR DETAIL
〜でした
Politely expresses a past state or judgment after a noun or descriptive expression.
Examples
昨日は祝日でした。
Yesterday was a public holiday.
Words used
昨日は父の誕生日でした。
Yesterday was my father's birthday.
Words used
Study notes
1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning
- Structure: Change
ですafter a noun or na-adjective stem toでした. - Basic usage:
昨日は祝日でした。politely describes yesterday's status.
2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions
- Past verbs and i-adjectives
- Verbs use forms such as
行きました, and i-adjectives forms such as高かったです. Do not attach the nominal endingでしたunchanged to every predicate.
- Verbs use forms such as
- Modifying a noun
- A sentence can end with
静かでした, but a past condition modifying a noun takes a plain form, as in静かだった町. Distinguish sentence endings from noun modification.
- A sentence can end with