How to Say ‘There was; happened’ in Japanese
ありました
ari mashi ta
[ah-ree mah-shee tah]
💬 Usage Tip: [ありました] is the polite past form of [ある]. It means “there was” or “it happened” for things and events.
🇯🇵 In Japan: Japanese often uses existence verbs like [ある] to talk about events happening. Very common and very useful.
Phrase Breakdown
あり
ari
[ah-ree]
existed; happened
Stem of ある in polite past form, used for things or events.
いいことがありました。
Something good happened.
まし
mashi
[mah-shee]
polite verb ending
Part of the polite verb form used in formal speech.
ありました、うれしいです。
It happened, so I’m happy.
た
ta
[tah]
past tense ending
Marks the polite verb as past tense.
ありました。
There was / it happened.
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