たものだ | Grammar

Structure

[verb た-form] + ものだ

Description

たものだ looks back on something that used to happen regularly and no longer does: "used to", "would often". The verb is in the た-form, and the sentence has a ring of nostalgia. The polite form is たものです.

、。

When I was a child, I would often swim in the river.

。

In my student days, I used to study late every night.

。

My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days.

It usually comes with a time in the past – むかし昔, こどものころ子供の頃, わかいころ若い頃, がくせいじだい学生時代 – and often with よく. The memory is the speaker's own, or something they witnessed.

A habit, not one event

たものだ needs something that happened again and again, or a state that lasted. A single event takes the plain past.

、。

I went to Kyoto last year.

× 去年、京都に行ったものだ → 去年、京都に行った

Plain past or たものだ

Both can describe a past habit. The plain past just reports it; たものだ adds the speaker's feeling that those days are gone.

、。

I used to come here often.

、。

I used to come here often.

Said with nostalgia.

Usage notes

These go beyond past habits.

Admiration or exasperation

With よく in the sense of "how on earth", たものだ reacts to something done: impressed, or appalled.

。

I'm amazed you passed such a hard exam.

。

How could you say such a thing?

Other uses of ものだ

without a past habit is a separate point. It states a general truth, or after a heartfelt wish.

。

Everyone makes mistakes.

。

I'd love to go to Paris someday.

Examples

、。

When I was a child, I used to play outside with friends every day.

。

When I was young, I would often stay up all night reading books.

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There used to be a lot of rice paddies around here.

、。

In my student days, I used to drink coffee at this café.

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My grandfather used to often talk about the war.

、。

Whenever summer break came, I would always go to my grandmother's house.

、。

Back in those days, I used to go to the beach every weekend.

、。

When I was little, my mother used to read picture books to me.

、。

In my college days, my friends and I used to talk together until morning.

。

I used to fight with my older brother a lot.

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I used to take walks along this road.

。

My father used to take me fishing on his days off.

References

Used to ～たものだ嘗てimabi.org
たものだBunpro