notes

• most of the time, the Japanese non-past tense refers to future events

  the present tense

• to say that something or someone is currently doing something, use 「いる」
  • ex: 「サクラが歩いている。」 means “Sakura is walking.”
  • ex: 「犬が食べている。」 means “The dog is eating.”
  • in these sentences, 「いる」 is the B car and 「歩く」/「食べる」 are modifying 「いる」

    the past tense

• add 「た」 to verbs to make them past tense
• 「た」 attaches the same way as 「て」

  time expressions

• relative time expressions (ex: 「明日」 or 「昨日」) placed at the beginning of a sentence do not require a particle
• absolute time expressions (ex: 「火曜日」 or 「六時」) use the に particle to mark when something takes place
  • に is needed when “on”, “at”, or “in” would be used in English

    resources

• youtube