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I was watching an anime and the character said something along the lines of
"のど乾{かわ}いたね～".

This would mean something like "I'm thirsty" (looking at the previous
dialogues, this was pretty obvious.), but I thought the た at the end would
make it past tense, but then it wouldn't make sense making it "I was thirsty"
when the character was clearly talking about the present. So I was wondering
if the た is a particle and have other meanings other than just making
something past tense.

Is this also because the Japanese used doesn't actually translate straight
into "I'm thirsty" but more "My throat is dry" if we translate it word for
word.

Would be cool if you could give some other examples of how to use this.
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2021-12-03T22:43:30.693
91451
2021-12-04T03:34:00.013
2021-12-04T03:34:00.013
5010
question
usage particles aspect
た particle usage in のど乾いた
The verb 乾く describes a change of state ( _to get dry_ ) rather than a lasting
state ( _to be dry_ ). Therefore, when used in the present tense, it means
such a change either happens usually, as opposed to at a specific point of
time, or will happen sometime in the future. The た-form in your example
indicates that such a change has recently happened and the throat has come
into a state of being dry as a result. You can understand this た-form as a
marker of **perfect aspect**.

The literal translation would be:

> のどが乾いた。  
>  _(lit.) My throat has (just) dried._

If you want to strictly describe a current state, you could use the ている-form.

> のどが乾いている。  
>  _(lit.) My throat is dry._

However, this doesn’t say you have rencetly come into that state and is
probably inappropriate in your scenario.

The usage of the た-form in the following example is similar as the verb わかる
also describes a change of state (of mind).

> わかった。  
>  _I understand._  
>  _(lit.) I have (just) understood._

The following sentence with the ている-form, in contrast, sounds as if you are
telling the speaker they don’t have to tell what they are telling because you
already know it.

> わかっている。  
>  _I know._
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2021-12-04T00:23:17.990
91454
2021-12-04T00:23:17.990
43676
91451
answer