As I understand, 〜ます should only be used in the ending verb while others
inside the sentence should be in basic form. How come, then, that the polite
past negative tense is made using 〜ませんでした, which contains polite conjugation
in the beginning 〜ません as well as in subsequent でした, which I learned is polite
form of です (I presume it is a contraction of でありました similarly to です itself)?
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2014-10-01T12:09:31.657
18892
2014-10-01T12:09:31.657
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question
politeness negation tense past
Only 〜ます in ending verb vs. 〜ませんでした