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Study Resource: Polite vs. plain forms in Japanese

By: Mayumi Ito

Associated Articles

These activities are part of our Japanese Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

The charts below compare the most basic polite and plain forms of verbs, adjectives, and nouns. Remember that only plain forms can be used in embedded clauses, like those that precede とき[toki](when).

Verbs

	Polite form	Plain form	Verb + とき
Non-past affirmative	食べます tabemasu I eat	食べる taberu I eat	食べるとき taberu toki when I eat
Past affirmative	食べました tabemashita I ate	食べた tabeta I ate	食べたとき tabeta toki when I have eaten
Non-past negative	食べません tabemasen I don't eat	食べない tabenai I don't eat	食べないとき tabenai toki when I don't eat
Past negative	食べませんでした tabemasendeshita I didn't eat	食べなかった tabenakatta I didn't eat	食べなかったとき tabenakatta toki when I had not eaten

i-Adjectives

	Polite form	Plain form	i-Adjective + とき
Non-past affirmative	寒いです samui desu it's cold	寒い samui it's cold	寒いとき samui toki when it's cold
Past affirmative	寒かったです samukatta desu it was cold	寒かった samukatta it was cold	寒かったとき samukatta toki when it was cold
Non-past negative	寒くないです samukunai desu it's not cold	寒くない samukunai it's not cold	寒くないとき samuku nai toki when it's not cold
Past negative	寒くなかったです samukunakatta desu it was not cold	寒くなかった samukunakatta it was not cold	寒くなかったとき samukunakatta toki when it was not cold

na-Adjectives

	Polite form	Plain form	na-Adjective + とき
Non-past affirmative	必要です hitsuyō desu it's necessary	必要だ hitsuyō da it’s necessary	必要なとき hitsuyōna toki when it's necessary ❌ 必要だとき hitsuyō da toki
Past affirmative	必要でした hitsuyō deshita it was necessary	必要だった hitsuyō datta it was necessary	必要だったとき hitsuyō datta toki when it was necessary
Non-past negative	必要じゃありません hitsuyō ja arimasen it's not necessary	必要じゃない hitsuyō ja nai it's not necessary	必要じゃないとき hitsuyō ja nai toki when it's not necessary
Past negative	必要じゃありませんでした hitsuyō ja arimasendeshita it was not necessary	必要じゃなかった hitsuyō ja nakatta it was not necessary	必要じゃなかったとき hitsuyō ja nakatta toki when it was not necessary

Nouns

	Polite form	Plain form	Noun + とき
Non-past affirmative	学生です gakusei desu I'm a student	学生だ gakusei da I’m a student	学生のとき gakusei no toki when I'm a student
Past affirmative	学生でした gakusei deshita I was a student	学生だった gakusei datta I was a student	学生だったとき gakusei datta toki when I was a student
Non-past negative	学生じゃありません gakusei ja arimasen I'm not a student	学生じゃない gakusei ja nai I’m not a student	学生じゃないとき gakusei ja nai toki when I'm not a student
Past negative	学生じゃありませんでした gakusei ja arimasendeshita I was not a student	学生じゃなかった gakusei ja nakatta I was not a student	学生じゃなかったとき gakusei ja nakatta toki when I was not a student

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