日: 2026年5月7日

Today we are going to learn one of constructions that use Ta-form of verbs. And the construction uses a formal noun “koto”. “Koto” has a meaning like “a thing” and/or “a matter”, but more importantly than meaning, “koto” has a function that makes a verb clause a noun-equivalent. Recently we learned a construction in which “koto” works to turn a verb to be a noun-equivalent. That was;

1. Watashi wa Piano o Hiku koto ga Dekimasu. (I can play a piano.)

Then, today’s construction also uses “koto” for the same purpose to make a verb a noun equivalent.

2. Watashi wa Hokkaidou e Itta koto ga Arimasu. (I have an experience of having been to Hokkaido.)

What is common, and what is different between the sentences 1 and 2?

Both sentences are “Wa-ga construction” with predicates of stative verbs. And both use “koto” to make a verb clause a noun equivalent so that the verb clause could be placed in front of the particle “ga”.

Of course, difference is that they are different constructions to describe different things; 1 is to say “someone can do something”, and 2 is to say “someone has an experience doing an action in the past.”. A difference more in detail, 1 uses Dictionary form of a verb, while 2 uses Ta-form. Since the sentence 2 is talking about an experience in the past, Ta-form is used.

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Miraa-san wa O-Sashimi o Tabeta koto ga Arimasuka. (Miller-san, have you eaten raw fish?)

B : Hai, Watashi wa O-Sashimi o Tabeta koro ga Arimasu. (Yes, I have eaten raw fish.)

“O-” attached in front of “Sashimi” is a prefix that makes the word more polite.

This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section 19 of “Minna no Nihongo (2^nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”