見つけた
mitsuketa
i found it in Japanese is 見つけた (mitsuketa).
This phrase is used when someone discovers something they were looking for. It is often used as an exclamation of sudden discovery, similar to the English 'Eureka!' or 'Found it!'
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The casual version 見つけた is used with friends, family or when talking to oneself. For a polite way to say 'I found it', you can use 見つけました or 見付けました, which are suitable for use with strangers or superiors. For an informal setting, you might also use 見つけたよ.
How does it change in a sentence?
Adding the auxiliary verb ます in its past form (ました) makes the phrase polite, resulting in 見つけました or 見付けました.
How do you pronounce it?
mitsuketa
Did you know?
- If you find something that belongs to someone else, like a lost wallet, you would rarely use 見つけた to announce it. Instead, you might say ありました (arimashita) to mean 'it exists' or 'it was here', focusing on the object's presence rather than your action of finding it.
- The verb 見つける (mitsukeru) is fundamentally different from 見つかる (mitsukaru). While 見つけた means 'I found it', the phrase 見つかった (mitsukatta) means 'it was found' or 'I have been discovered'.
- The word 見つけた is used for finding physical objects, but when you 'find' a solution or an answer to a problem, Japanese speakers often use the word 分かった (wakatta), which literally means 'I understood'.
Examples in context
- たまたま、見つけたんだ。I found it by chance.This sentence shows how to say the discovery was made by chance using 見つけた.Tatoeba #10506837 by small_snow, translation #5341000 by Amittai
- 見つけた！I found it!This sentence is an exclamation of finding something using 見つけた.Tatoeba #7577266 by Shake, translation #1057970 by Brian255
- 見つけた。I found it.This sentence is a simple statement of discovery using 見つけた.Tatoeba #9167384 by megamanenm, translation #1901807 by Spamster
- 先生、私は確認したら、鍵を見つけましたTeacher, when I checked, I found the key.
- 昨日公園でおもしろい本を見つけたYesterday, I found an interesting book in the park.
- これ、どこかで見つけたっけI found this somewhere, didn't I?
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Yui and Hiroto are looking for a lost key in the living room.
- 大翔 Hirotoどこにあるんだろう。Doko ni aru n darou.I wonder where it is.
- 結衣 Yuiあ、ソファの下に見つけた！A, sofa no shita ni mitsuketa!Oh, I found it under the sofa!
- 大翔 Hiroto本当だ、よかった。Hontou da, yokatta.You're right, that's a relief.
- 結衣 Yuiもう安心だね。Mou anshin da ne.We can relax now.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry 見つけた, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
