〜き / 〜し: This is an old way to talk about the past. You use it when you saw or felt something happen yourself. It is like saying 'I saw it' or 'I felt it'.

〜き / 〜し

This is an old way to talk about the past. You use it when you saw or felt something happen yourself. It is like saying 'I saw it' or 'I felt it'.

KMT9FormalStandardClassical InflectionWritten OnlyClassicalClassical Past Tense And HearsayGrammar

Verb [stem] + きPrimary

Verb [stem] + し + Noun

This is an old way to talk about the past. You use it when you saw or felt something happen yourself. It is like saying 'I saw it' or 'I felt it'.

我、旅の途中にて美しき風景を見き。

I saw beautiful scenery during my journey.

FormalPastAffirmativeSentence EndingEvidentialTravel & Transportation Literature

かの男の詠みし歌は、今もなほ人々の心に響く。

The poem that man composed still resonates in people's hearts even now.

FormalPastAffirmativePrenominalDeclarativeLiterature History

その深き真理を、若き日の我は知らざりき。

In my younger days, I did not know that deep truth.

FormalPastNegativeSentence EndingEvidentialReligion & Philosophy Emotions & Psychology

故郷の山を見しかど、帰ることはかなはざりき。

Although I saw the mountains of my hometown, I was not able to return.

FormalPastAffirmativeMid SentenceConcessiveFamily & Relationships Emotions & Psychology

都にて聞きし鶯の声は、東国にては実に珍しかりき。

The voice of the bush warbler I had heard in the capital was indeed rare in the eastern provinces.

FormalPastAffirmativeSentence EndingEvidentialNature & Environment History

This word changes how it looks. It changes based on where it is in the sentence. It can end a sentence. It can also describe a noun. Or it can connect to words like 'although'.

This is different from "keri". "Keri" is for things you heard. Or it is for things you just learned. This is also different from "tari". "Tari" shows an action that finished. Or it shows a state that is complete.

Don't use this when you are talking about someone else's past experience. For example, you cannot say "He went to the store き." You can only use this when you yourself did something or saw something. This word connects to the stem form of verbs.

Contrasts with(2)

〜けり (伝聞過去)

This means you heard about something that happened in the past. You did not see it yourself. It is like saying 'I heard that...' or 'people say that...'.

〜けり (詠嘆)

You use this when you suddenly notice something. It's like saying, "Oh, I just realized that!"

Verb stem form

This is a special form of a verb. You use it to join verbs together. You can also use it to make a noun from a verb.

た形

This shows an action finished in the past. It also shows something that was true before now.

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Dictionary

〜き / 〜し

This is an old way to talk about the past. You use it when you saw or felt something happen yourself. It is like saying 'I saw it' or 'I felt it'.

KMT9FormalStandardClassical InflectionWritten OnlyClassicalClassical Past Tense And HearsayGrammar

Verb [stem] + きPrimary

Verb [stem] + し + Noun

This is an old way to talk about the past. You use it when you saw or felt something happen yourself. It is like saying 'I saw it' or 'I felt it'.

我、旅の途中にて美しき風景を見き。

I saw beautiful scenery during my journey.

FormalPastAffirmativeSentence EndingEvidentialTravel & Transportation Literature

かの男の詠みし歌は、今もなほ人々の心に響く。

The poem that man composed still resonates in people's hearts even now.

FormalPastAffirmativePrenominalDeclarativeLiterature History

その深き真理を、若き日の我は知らざりき。

In my younger days, I did not know that deep truth.

FormalPastNegativeSentence EndingEvidentialReligion & Philosophy Emotions & Psychology

故郷の山を見しかど、帰ることはかなはざりき。

Although I saw the mountains of my hometown, I was not able to return.

FormalPastAffirmativeMid SentenceConcessiveFamily & Relationships Emotions & Psychology

都にて聞きし鶯の声は、東国にては実に珍しかりき。

The voice of the bush warbler I had heard in the capital was indeed rare in the eastern provinces.

FormalPastAffirmativeSentence EndingEvidentialNature & Environment History

This word changes how it looks. It changes based on where it is in the sentence. It can end a sentence. It can also describe a noun. Or it can connect to words like 'although'.

Contrasts with(2)

〜けり (伝聞過去)

This means you heard about something that happened in the past. You did not see it yourself. It is like saying 'I heard that...' or 'people say that...'.

〜けり (詠嘆)

You use this when you suddenly notice something. It's like saying, "Oh, I just realized that!"

Verb stem form

This is a special form of a verb. You use it to join verbs together. You can also use it to make a noun from a verb.

た形

This shows an action finished in the past. It also shows something that was true before now.

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Kumi's KMT system tracks your mastery across kanji, vocabulary, grammar, and reading. Create a free account to use it on 220,000+ concepts.

〜き / 〜し

Patterns2

Meaning

Examples5

Nuance1

Contrasts1

Restrictions1

Compare with2

Contrasts with(2)

Prerequisites2

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〜き / 〜し

Patterns2

Meaning

Examples5

Nuance1

Contrasts1

Restrictions1

Compare with2

Contrasts with(2)

Prerequisites2

Track your mastery