| Let's look at how this pattern is constructed. |
| Do you remember how the character said, |
| We met last year in Fukuoka. |
| 去年、ふくおかで 会った｡ (Kyonen, Fukuoka de atta.) |
| 去年、ふくおかで 会った｡ (Kyonen, Fukuoka de atta.) |
| This sentence follows the pattern here. |
| This pattern is the structure that all of our examples will follow. |
| Topic + Verb (past tense) |
| This pattern is used to describe a completed action. The sentence often starts with a time or place expression, followed by the verb in its past tense. In Japanese, subjects and objects can be left out when they are clear from context, so the focus is on when or where something happened and what the action was. The verb is always at the end of the sentence, and its past tense form tells us the action is finished. |
| Let’s see how the line from the dialogue follows this pattern. |
| 去年、ふくおかで 会った。 |
| In this sentence, the topic りんちゃんと いせきは (“Rin and Iseki”) is left out because it was just mentioned, so both speakers know who is being talked about. |
| 去年 means “last year.” |
| ふくおかで uses で, the location particle, to mark Fukuoka as the place where the action happened. |
| 会った is the past tense of the verb 会います (aimasu), meaning “to meet.” So 会った means “met.” |
| Now let's look at some speaking examples. |
| このバッグ、せん週、ぎんざで 買ったよ｡ (Kono baggu, senshū, Ginza de katta yo.) |
| I bought this bag in Ginza last week. |
| Can you see how the pattern applies here? |
| Let's break it down: |
| Here, このバッグ (kono baggu) means “this bag.” It is the topic of the sentence — the thing being talked about. Although there’s no particle は (wa), this kind of casual sentence often drops particles in spoken Japanese. So このバッグ (kono baggu) functions as the topic: “As for this bag…” |
| Next, せん週 (senshū) means “last week,” and ぎんざで (Ginza de) means “in Ginza.” The particle で (de) shows the location where the action took place. |
| The verb is 買った (katta), the past tense of 買う (kau), which means “to buy.” So 買った (katta) means “bought.” This is the past tense action in the sentence. |
| So the structure is: |
| Topic: このバッグ |
| Verb (past tense): 買った |
| Here's another example |
| しんくん、もう ぜんぶ おさらを あらった？ (Shin-kun, mō zenbu o-sara o aratta?) |
| Shin, did you already wash all the dishes? |
| しんくん、もう ぜんぶ おさらを あらった？ (Shin-kun, mō zenbu o-sara o aratta?) |
| Shin, did you already wash all the dishes? |
| Let's try one more, |
| エマちゃんは いつ きょうとに 行ったの？ (Ema-chan wa itsu Kyōto ni itta no?) |
| When did Emma go to Kyoto? |
| エマちゃんは いつ きょうとに 行ったの？ (Ema-chan wa itsu Kyōto ni itta no?) |
| When did Emma go to Kyoto? |
| Another one. |
| コンビニには 行かなかった｡でも、ぎんこうには 行ったよ｡ (Konbini ni wa ikanakatta. Demo, ginkō ni wa itta yo.) |
| I didn’t go to the convenience store. But I did go to the bank. |
| コンビニには 行かなかった｡でも、ぎんこうには 行ったよ｡ (Konbini ni wa ikanakatta. Demo, ginkō ni wa itta yo.) |
| I didn’t go to the convenience store. But I did go to the bank. |
| Another example. |
| きのう、しゅくだいは なかったよ｡ (Kinō, shukudai wa nakatta yo.) |
| There was no homework yesterday. |
| きのう、しゅくだいは なかったよ｡ (Kinō, shukudai wa nakatta yo.) |
| There was no homework yesterday. |
| Next. |
| けさは ジョギングを しなかった｡あめだったからね｡ (Kesa wa jogingu o shinakatta. Ame datta kara ne.) |
| I didn’t go jogging this morning. Because it was rainy. |
| けさは ジョギングを しなかった｡あめだったからね｡ (Kesa wa jogingu o shinakatta. Ame datta kara ne.) |
| I didn’t go jogging this morning. Because it was rainy. |
| One last example. |
| どうして きのう 来なかったの？ (Dōshite kinō konakatta no?) |
| Why didn’t you come yesterday? |
| どうして きのう 来なかったの？ (Dōshite kinō konakatta no?) |
| Why didn’t you come yesterday? |
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