Grammar Info

N3 Lesson 5: 22/22

～たものだUsed to

Structure

Verb［た］+ ものだ

Details

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    Standard

  • Rare Kanji

    物

About たものだ

As mentioned the ものだ lesson, the combination of the noun 物(もの) 'thing', with the auxiliary verb だ forms a strong determination about whatever comes before it as being 'the way it is'. As an extension of this nuance, ものだ can be paired with verbs in the past tense, creating a phrase similar to 'I used to (A) in the past'. However, the literal meaning is closer to '(A) was the way it used to be'.

Due to ものだ being a strong determination of something's existence/truth, this expression quite often carries the nuance that the speaker is nostalgic about (A), reminiscing about (A), or being introspective about (A). This means that it will not sound natural when describing things that are seemingly inconsequential, or have no meaningful significance.

When highlighting things in the past that are not particularly important, たことがある will be used instead.

Examples

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    若(わか)い頃(ころ)は、いろんな苦労(くろう)をしたものだ。

    I used to have lots of hardships when I was young.

    子供(こども)の頃(ころ)はよく海(うみ)に泳(およ)ぎに行(い)ったものだ。

    I used to go swimming in the ocean a lot when I was a child.

    昔(むかし)はよく、車(くるま)を運転(うんてん)して遠(とお)くに出(で)かけたものだ。

    A long time ago, I often used to go out and take long drives.

    子供(こども)の頃(ころ)は授業(じゅぎょう)中(ちゅう)、よく居(い)眠(ねむ)りをしたものだ。

    When I was a child, I used to nod off a lot in the middle of class.

    私(わたし)が子(こ)どもの頃(ころ)、よく父(ちち)に映画(えいが)を見(み)に連(つ)れていってもらったものだ。

    Dad used to take me to the movies when I was a child.

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      たものだ – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

      • IcyIceBear

        IcyIceBear

        Hiii again
        Have you heard of the Hinative app? I recommend it, it was basically built for those kinds of questions! I haven’t used it in a while, but I would use it to check with natives if my sentences were natural. It’s really easy to get translations from multiple natives and learners alike, as well as corrections/suggestions on how to say something better

      • RezoneH

        RezoneH

        thank you for your reply and valuable time.

        I’ve heard of it, yes. As you said, I think it is a useful site for this purpose. Have you tried ChatGPT? If you have heard or experienced it before, I do not want to make any additional explanations about it.

        I hope that there are many people at a higher level than me at Bunpro who can answer this question.

      • RezoneH

        RezoneH

        Not bad yes. I liked it. It’s integrated with A.I., that’s great, I didn’t know that. Thanks for your advice.

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