JLPT N5 · Verb forms and tenses

Vなかった

Forms the plain past negative verb form

Meaning

Forms the plain past negative verb form.

Formation

  1. Take the ない form and swap い for かった: 行かない → 行かなかった
  2. Group 2: 食べなかった; group 3: しなかった, 来なかった

When to use it

Core use
Forms the plain past negative verb form

Example

昨日きのうテレビなかった

I did not watch television yesterday.

Important notes

  • Word forms and particle choice depend on the pattern's role in the sentence.

Common mistakes

  • Do not reorder or reshape the highlighted parts to match English word order.

Similar grammar

    All N5 grammarOpen in the app