Could not do (polite) in Japanese 🇯🇵

できませんでした info.

Tips to remember the Japanese word:
– Think of "でき" (deki) as "able" and "ませんでした" (masen dea) as a polite past tense negative ending, so "できませんでした" means "was not able to do."

Explanations:
– "できませんでした" is the negative past tense form of "できる" (dekiru), which means "to be able to do" or "can do."

Other words that mean the same thing:
– できなかった (dekinakatta): A less formal way to say "could not do."
– することができませんでした (suru koto ga dekimasen dea): A more formal and elaborate way to say "could not do."

Conjugations:
– Present positive: できます (dekimasu) – can do
– Present negative: できません (dekimasen) – cannot do
– Past positive: できました (dekimaa) – was able to do
– Past negative: できませんでした (dekimasen dea) – could not do
– Future positive: できるでしょう (dekiru deshou) – will be able to do
– Future negative: できないでしょう (dekinai deshou) – will not be able to do

Examples of sentences that use it:
1. 昨日は宿題ができませんでした。
– Kinō wa shukudai ga dekimasen dea.
– I could not do my homework yesterday.
2. 難しかったので、その問題ができませんでした。
– Muzukashikatta node, sono mondai ga dekimasen dea.
– Because it was difficult, I could not do that problem.
3. 昨夜は遅くまで働いていたので、家事ができませんでした。
– Sakuya wa osoku made hataraiteita node, kaji ga dekimasen dea.
– I was working late last night, so I could not do the household chores.

a few seconds ago