Lesson 60
Te Form + ita
Since ita is the Ta Form of iru, I first thought I'd wait until we got into the Ta Form before introducing it. However, since it is not only a Te Form ending, but also an often used element of conversational Japanese, I decided to go ahead and cover it here. Put simply, ita is the plain past form of iru, and expresses the past progressive tense when added to verbs in the Te Form:
- John wa terebi o mite ita. (John was watching TV.)
- Karera wa zasshi o yonde ita. (They were reading a magazine.)
- Bill wa benkyou shite ita. (Bill was studying.)
There were two points mentioned in Lesson 58 that we'll review here. They are important because they are used constantly in daily conversation. The first is that in Japanese the past progressive tense is used much more than it is in English. In fact, there are cases where it would sound odd if translated directly into English in the same tense and used that way. To illustrate this I have made up a short yet very natural conversation. I include the usual English translation, but also add what the direct translation from Japanese would be, which is underlined:
A: Kinou wa nani o shite ita? (What did you do yesterday? [What were you doing yesterday?])
B: Kaimono o shite ita. Soshite terebi o mite ita. (I went shopping. And I watched TV. [I was doing shopping. And I was watching TV.])
A: Hontou? Boku wa kuruma o aratte ita. (Really? I washed my car. [Really? I was washing my car.])
Yes, that is how Japanese speak of past everyday events with friends and family: the past progressive Te Form + ita is often used. Also, this would be two males speaking. Males usually use boku in familiar settings, as well as ore and washi for "I." Females usually use watashi or sometimes atashi.
The second point is that in actual conversation the verb and ita are often jammed together. The above example conversation looks all proper when written, but no real friends or family members — at least those who are at a familiar enough level to use plain endings in the first place — are going to speak so grammatically correct. Just for the fun of it, here is the same conversation as it would actually sound:
A: Kinou nani shiteta? (Whadja do yesterday?)
B: Kaimono shiteta. Soshite terebi miteta. (I went shopping. And watched TV.)
A: Hontou? Boku kuruma aratteta. (Really? I washed my car.)
Now that's real Japanese.
As I'm sure you know by now, in settings where polite speech is called for, upgrade ita to imashita.
Word Check
soshite: also; besides; and
hontou: really
kuruma: car
arau: to wash
(Verbs are shown in their plain form.)
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