64 CHAPTER 2. VERB GRAMMAR
Past tense
The last basic inflection we will look at is the past tense, which relies on the
classical helper verb for past tense,. This helper verb has the following
bases:
base formThis verb has no (it doesn’t make sense to mark something
as a past tense and then continue inflecting it to something else), nor does
it have a (because one cannot command someone to do something
in the past). It’s combined with verbal , being wholly unremarkable
for the verbs, simply pairing up with the , but being not quite
so unremarkable for verbs. While in classical Japanese, the same rule
applies as for verbs, in modern Japanese, most past tenses for
verbs have become contracted, as we will see:
classical past tense modern past tense change ’rule’+ : verbs: no change
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →
+ : verbs: →Irregular classical past tense modern past tense change ’rule’+ special ruleThe verb , pronounced or (the first being used in every
day life, the laĴer being used in poetry and song lyrics), does not follow