た

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 太 in the cursive sōsho style.

• IPA^(key): [ta̠]

た (romaji ta)

1. The hiragana syllable た (ta). Its equivalent in katakana is タ (ta). It is the sixteenth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is た行あ段 (ta-gyō a-dan, “row ta, section a”).

• だ (da)

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

From たる (taru), the 連体形 (rentaikei, “adnominal form”) of the classical auxiliary たり (tari).

• だ (da) (when following -b, -g, -m, and -n base verbs)

た (rōmaji -ta)

(jodōshi)

1. Indicates a past or completed action.
   • 昨 (き)日 (のう)出 (しゅっ)張 (ちょう)から帰 (かえ)ってきた

     kinō shutchō kara kaette kita

     I returned from my business trip yesterday.

   • 原 (げん)稿 (こう)をやっと書 (か)いたよ

     genkō o yatto kaita yo

     I have finally finished my manuscript.

   • 掃 (そう)除 (じ)が終 (お)わったら、ごみを出 (だ)しに行 (い)きなさい

     sōji ga owattara, gomi o dashi ni iki nasai

     Once you have finished cleaning, go dispose of the trash.

   • あの人はもう起きたろうか渡辺淳一, 『化粧』

     I wonder if he has woken up.

2. Indicates the realization of a situation that has not realized.
   • 話 (はなし)が出 (で)た時 (じ)点 (てん)で考 (かんが)えよう

     hanashi ga deta jiten de kangaeyō

     Let's talk about it later when that question actually comes up.

   • 今 (こん)度 (ど)会 (あ)ったとき話 (はな)すよ

     kondo atta toki hanasu yo

     I will tell you when we meet next time.

3. (modifying a noun) Indicates the resulting state of an action.

   Synonyms: てある (-te aru), ている (-te iru)

   • 割 (わ)れたガラス窓 (まど)から風 (かぜ)が吹 (ふ)き込 (こ)む

     wareta garasu mado kara kaze ga fukikomu

     The wind keeps blowing in through the broken glass window.

4. (at the end of a sentence)
   1. Indicates speaker's declaration, confirmation, or sudden realization.
      • あれ、君 (きみ)はそこにいたの

        are, kimi wa soko ni ita no

        Oh, there are you.

      • 坊 (ぼう)やは今年 (ことし)いくつだった

        bōya wa kotoshi ikutsu datta

        How old are you, boy?

      • もうやめた

        mō yameta

        I have had enough. (lit. I have decided to give up this.)

      • よし、その品 (しな)買 (か)った

        yoshi, sono shina katta

        Well, I decided to buy this.

   2. Makes a light command.
      • さあ、どんどん歩 (ある)いた、歩 (ある)いた

        sā, dondon aruita, aruita

        Go. Go. Don't stop.

• This suffix follows the 音便 (onbin, “euphonic changes”) forms of certain verb classes, some of which cause the suffix た (-ta) to be voiced as だ (-da).

• In traditional Japanese grammar, this is a 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) with the defective paradigm たろ (taro), --, た (ta), た (ta), たら (tara), --. The 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) たろ (taro) is used to derive the past conjectural suffix たろう (-tarō), which is now old-fashioned and taken over by だろう (darō) following the past form. The 仮定形 (kateikei, “hypothetical stem”) たら (-tara-) used to further take the conditional particle ば (-ba), but now usually stands on its own to form the conditional.

Short form of たれ (tare).

た (rōmaji ta)

1. (archaic) interrogative personal pronoun; who
   • c. late 9th – mid-10th century, Taketori Monogatari

     あの書をきし文を讀み聞かせけれど、「なにせむにか命もおしからむ。たが為にか。何事も用もなし」とて[...]

From Old Japanese.

Takes the particle に (​ni) or の (​no).

た (rōmaji ta)

1. Synonym of ため (tame)

• Sakakura, Atsuyoshi; Yūichi Ōtsu; Hiroshi Tsukishima; Toshiko Abe; Imai Gen'e (1957) Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 9: Taketori Monogatari, Ise Monogatari, Yamato Monogatari (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN.
• 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN