We learned yesterday the endings of past-positive for Noun, Na-adjective, and I-adjective predicate sentences. It is important to know that the ending of I-adjective is different from the endings of Noun and Na-adjective predicate sentences.
<Past-Positive>
1. Noun Predicate => [Noun]+deshita.
2. Na-adjective => [Na-adj]+deshita.
3. I-adjective => [I-adj]+kattadesu.
Not only for “Past-Positive”, also for “Past-Negative” there is the same kind of difference in terms of “Noun and Na-adjective versus I-adjective”
<Past-Negative>
4. Noun Predicate => [Noun]+dewa Arimasen deshita.
example : San’nen mae, Watashi wa Daigakusei dewa Arimasen deshita.
(Three years ago, I was not a university student.)
Note that “dewa” is often shortened to be “ja” which sounds a little casual.
5. Na-adjective => [Na-adj]+dewa Arimasen deshita.
example : San’nen mae, Kono kouen wa Kirei dewa Arimasen deshita.
(Three years ago, this park was neither clean nor beautiful.)
Note that “Kirei” is not an I-adjective but Na-adjective. And spelling is “Kirei”, but pronunciation is “Kire’e”.
3. I-adjective => [I-adj]+ku nakatta desu.
example : Kinou wa Atatakaku nakatta desu.
(Yesterday, it was not warm.)
This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 12 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 