食べた
tabeta
ate in Japanese is 食べた (tabeta).
The past tense of eat, used to say that someone has consumed food.
Which one should you use?
食べた is the simple past tense. 食べちゃった is a casual expression that can be translated as ate it or ate up. 食った is a casual and colloquial variant of tabeta.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
食べた is the casual form used with friends and family. 食べました is the polite form used in standard social situations and with strangers. 召し上がりました is a polite and respectful way to say ate. 頂きました is an expression used to convey gratitude for receiving a meal or food, meaning 'I have humbly received or I have had the honor of eating'.
How does it change in a sentence?
The polite past tense form is 食べました.
How do you pronounce it?
tabeta
Did you know?
- The highly respectful 召し上がりました (meshiagarimashita) is only used for others. Using it to describe how you yourself 'ate' would be a humorous grammatical error because you cannot show respect to yourself.
- If you are eating a meal in a Japanese home, you might hear 'itadakimasu' before eating and 'gochisousama' after, which frames the act of having 'eaten' as a ritual of thanks.
- In Japanese, the verb 食べる (taberu) can also mean 'to consume' or 'to use up' a resource, such as time or money, much like the English 'eat through' a budget.
Examples in context
- トムは食べた。Tom ate.This sentence shows how to use 食べた to indicate a completed action by a subject.Tatoeba #4321465 by nihonjin, translation #2203599 by CK
- 寿司を食べた。I ate sushi.This sentence shows how to use 食べた with a specific food item.Tatoeba #11532841 by cia_UnitedStatesNa13, translation #12586362 by CK
- めっちゃ食べた。I ate a lot.This sentence shows how to use 食べた to describe the quantity of food consumed.Tatoeba #8933303 by small_snow, translation #8933302 by CK
- 昨晩、美しいレストランで豪華なディナーを食べました。Last night, I had a luxurious dinner at a beautiful restaurant.
- お客様が召し上がりました料理はおいしかったですか。Did you enjoy the dish you ate, sir/madam?
- 新年のお祝いに、お寺でおそばを頂きました。I had the honor of eating soba at the temple for New Year's celebration.
- 昨日、友達と美味しいケーキを食べた。Yesterday, I ate delicious cake with my friends.
- あのケーキを全部食べちゃった！I ate all of that cake!
- 177 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Kenta and Misaki are talking about lunch in the office.
- 健太 Kentaもう昼ご飯食べた？mou hirugohan tabeta?Did you already eat lunch?
- 美咲 Misakiうん、もう食べたよ。un, mou tabeta yo.Yeah, I already ate.
- 健太 Kenta何を食べたの？nani o tabeta no?What did you eat?
- 美咲 Misakiコンビニのパンを食べた。konbini no pan o tabeta.I ate a convenience store bread roll.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
