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Is there a difference...?

Froggiechan

後輩
13 Jun 2007
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I was just wondering if it is possible to say tabetai deshita instead of tabetakatta. sorry if this was already posted!
 
Hi there

The polite form is tabetakatta desu. (Past tense polite) I would like to have eaten.
The informal is tabetakatta. (Past tense informal) I wanted to eat.

If you say tabetakatta deshita you have two past tense forms in one sentence (takatta + deshita) so this would be overkill!

Hope this helps to explain why you would not use it.

Lisa Nieboer
BeGlobal Language School
 
Thats the only difference I can see. The OP title says is there a difference?

But I also don't here ~taideshita often.
 
Sorry I might have confused you! Apologies

Tabetai deshita - should be Tabetakatta desu (I would like to have eaten) Past polite Although you sometimes do hear tabetai deshita.

Tabetakatta (I wanted to eat) Past informal
 
Hi there

The polite form is tabetakatta desu. (Past tense polite) I would like to have eaten.
The informal is tabetakatta. (Past tense informal) I wanted to eat.

If you say tabetakatta deshita you have two past tense forms in one sentence (takatta + deshita) so this would be overkill!

Hope this helps to explain why you would not use it.

Lisa Nieboer
BeGlobal Language School
Well that would be the reason why I don't her it :p
 
Sorry I might have confused you! Apologies

Tabetai deshita - should be Tabetakatta desu (I would like to have eaten) Past polite Although you sometimes do hear tabetai deshita.

Tabetakatta (I wanted to eat) Past informal
Is "tabetai desu" correct but a less used form, OR is it incorrect and it's true form is "tabetakatta desu"?
What do we conclude about this?
 
Is "tabetai desu" correct but a less used form, OR is it incorrect and it's true form is "tabetakatta desu"?
What do we conclude about this?
TABETAI is the plain present tense.
TABETAI DESU is the polite present tense.

TABETAKATTA is the plain past tense.
TABETAKATTA DESU is the polite past tense.

TABETAI DESHITA is incorrect. I imagine it is intended to be a polite past tense, but grammatically it is wrong.

Remember that structurally speaking, ~TAI is an adjective and therefore conjugates in exactly the same way as other adjectives like OISHII or ATSUI, etc.
 
>TABETAI is the plain present tense.
>TABETAI DESU is the polite present tense.
>
>TABETAKATTA is the plain past tense.
>TABETAKATTA DESU is the polite past tense.
>
>TABETAI DESHITA is incorrect. I imagine it is intended to be a polite past >tense, but grammatically it is wrong.

Finally, great. This thread was getting funny. :)
 
arigatou gozaimasu! so tabetai deshita is gramatically incorrect, but LisaN, you say that you have heard people use it before? So, then, I think it may be possible to use but its not used commonly. Kind of like in english where you can say "can you hand me those scissors" or "can you hand me the scissors" that kind of thing. Ok then I wonder if its possible to say tabetakatta deshita?
 
LisaN: tabetakatta and tabetakatta desu mean the same thing, just with varying levels of politeness. Although it's common in English to just lengthen sentences to try to make them sound more polite, doing so in this case just confounds the confusion, and actually changes the grammar structure altogether.

As Mikawa Ossan said, the ~tai form of verbs conjugates just like an ~i adjective, so

casual, plain forms:
tabetai
tabetakunai
tabetakatta
tabetakunakatta
tabetakute
tabetakereba

polite forms
tabetai desu
tabetaku arimasen
tabetakatta desu
tabetaku arimasen deshita

tabetai deshita is just plain wrong, just like oishii deshita is wrong. It's an improper conjugation, so don't do it! It's not a matter of preference. Native speakers would not make this mistake, and if they have, it's still a MISTAKE. Stick to the real verb conjugations for now.
 
LisaN: tabetakatta and tabetakatta desu mean the same thing, just with varying levels of politeness. Although it's common in English to just lengthen sentences to try to make them sound more polite, doing so in this case just confounds the confusion, and actually changes the grammar structure altogether.
Tabetakatta desu I think is relatively understandable, although conjugating "desu" as "janai" will confuse many people into thinking you are saying "It isn't that I wanted to eat...."

I seem to recall that problem in a similiarly themed thread with "tabenikui janai" being mistaken in the past for "isn't easy to eat."


Tabetai deshita - should be Tabetakatta desu (I would like to have eaten) Past polite Although you sometimes do hear tabetai deshita.
'Tabetakatta' doesn't contain any reference to having actually eaten or not. It is strictly 'wanted to eat' and implies nothing more than that.
 
arigatou gozaimasu! so tabetai deshita is gramatically incorrect, but LisaN, you say that you have heard people use it before? So, then, I think it may be possible to use but its not used commonly. Kind of like in english where you can say "can you hand me those scissors" or "can you hand me the scissors" that kind of thing.
I think it's more like "Can did you hand me the scissors" when trying to say "Could you hand me the scissor"
Ok then I wonder if its possible to say tabetakatta deshita?
No, it's not.
 
I checked Google for 食べたいでした and there are hardly any entries. Granted, there are quite a few for the phrase "「食べたい」でした", but that's 食べたい being quoted.

食べたいでした - Google Search
Glenn san mentioned a "survey" once that he had come across (maybe an urban legend) which supposedly had something like 5% of Japanese conjugating い adjectives in the past polite form (難しいでした) etc.


All I can say it that it must have been a survey in English cause I've never, ever seen the slightest real world evidence of this phenomenon. :p
 
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