Say what happened politely (ました)
Take the verb stem and add ました to say that an action happened or was completed in polite speech.
JLPTN5
[verb stem] + ました[verb stem] + mashita
Polite past affirmative: did / finished doing
To say that something happened in polite speech, replace the non-past ending 〜ます (masu) with 〜ました (mashita). The verb stem does not change at all:
- 食べます (eat) → 食べました (ate)
- 飲みます (drink) → 飲みました (drank)
- 行きます (go) → 行きました (went)
- します → しました
- 来ます (come) → 来ました (came)
This is the standard form used with teachers, colleagues, shopkeepers, and new acquaintances to talk about past events, yesterday, or what you did over the weekend.