💡 Switch to Hiragana only or Rōmaji if you're just starting out.
What is でした / だった?
These are the past tense forms of です/だ, meaning "was/were". The choice depends on formality and word type.
でした → polite past; used with nouns and な-adjective stems (e.g., 学生でした, 静かでした).
だった → plain/casual past; same usage as above but in informal speech (e.g., 学生だった, 静かだった).
い-adjectives have their own past conjugation: replace い with かった. Then optionally add です for politeness. (おいしい → おいしかった / おいしかったです).
過去形を覚えましょう。かこけいをおぼえましょう。Kakokei o oboemashou.
How to Pronounce
でした： de shi ta
だった： da tta (small っ pause)
静かでした / 学生だった / 高かったです
Examples & Mini Dialogue
学生でした。がくせいでした。Gakusei deshita.
(I) was a student. (noun + でした)
Plain: 学生だった.
静かだった。しずかだった。Shizuka datta.
It was quiet. (な-adj stem + だった, casual)
Polite: 静かでした.
高かったです。たかかったです。Takakatta desu.
It was expensive. (い-adj: 高い → 高かった + です)
Casual: 高かった (no です).
🗣️ Mini Dialogue
A: 昨日の天気はどうでしたか？きのうのてんきはどうでしたか？Kinō no tenki wa dō deshita ka?
B: 雨でした。あめでした。Ame deshita.
("How was the weather yesterday?" — "It was rainy.")
When to Use in Real Japan
Talking about the past:昔、ここは学校でした。むかし、ここはがっこうでした。Mukashi, koko wa gakkō deshita.
Expressing past feelings:嬉しかったです。うれしかったです。Ureshikatta desu.
Memories:子供の頃、静かな町だった。こどものころ、しずかなまちだった。Kodomo no koro, shizuka na machi datta.
⚡ Adjective past vs. Noun/な-adj past: The Big Difference
The JLPT N5 often tests if you know that い-adjectives don't use でした/だった directly. They change internally.
Word Type
Present (polite)
Past (polite)
Noun
学生です
学生でした
な-adj
静かです
静かでした
い-adj
おいしいです
おいしかったです
💡 Exam tip: If you see "おいしいでした" as a choice, eliminate it immediately.
Common Mistakes
✕おいしいでしたおいしいでしたOishii deshita
✓おいしかったですおいしかったですOishikatta desu
(い-adjectives must change い→かった before adding です)
🔍 Why? The い already acts like a copula; it has its own past form.
✕静かでしただしずかでしただShizuka deshita da
✓静かでしたしずかでしたShizuka deshita
(Never mix でした and だ)
🔍 Use either でした (polite) or だった (casual), never both.
🎌 JLPT N5 Exam Trick
In the grammar section, you might see:
「きのうのパーティーは ( )。」 A. たのしいでした B. たのしかったです
Answer: B. Remember: past tense of い-adjectives is always かった(です).
JLPT N5 Practice Questions
1. "It was fun." (楽しい = fun, い-adj)
A. 楽しいでした
B. 楽しかったです
Show AnswerCorrect: B (楽しい → 楽しかった + です)
2. "He was a teacher." (先生 = teacher, noun)
A. 先生でした
B. 先生かったです
Show AnswerCorrect: A (noun + でした)
3. "It was quiet." (静か = quiet, な-adj, casual)
A. 静かだった
B. 静かかった
Show AnswerCorrect: A (な-adj stem + だった)
⚠️ The "おいしいでした" mistake appears in almost every N5 mock test.
This lesson is taught by Anup Sensei, an experienced Japanese language instructor at Gogaku Language & Training Center in Pokhara. He has studied and worked in Japan and specializes in practical JLPT preparation and real-life communication skills.
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Clarity is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location.
1 day
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Tries to estimate the users' bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. Also used for marketing
179 days
PREF
This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
10 years from set/ update
YSC
Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Session
DEVICE_INFO
Used to detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for GDPR-compliance of the website.
179 days
LOGIN_INFO
This cookie is used to play YouTube videos embedded on the website.
