when describing last week/ last year?
先週は寒いです literally means “last week is cold” – is there a reason that is used instead of “was cold”? I would appreciate if there is a grammar rule that explains this.
Edit: and now when asking how last winter was, you use deshita? I’m sure there’s a rule here but it doesn’t explain it. “Kotoshi no fuyu no tenki wa dou deshita?” Why not desu in this case?
2 comments
I would have said 先週は寒かったです instead.
As a hint towards answering your question, and possibly future ones like this as well, if you do a search in Japanese Google for the phrase 先週は寒いです in direct quotes, you will find exactly 0 instances.
That is usually a good indication that whatever you’re referencing is wrong.
In this case, I believe you are getting confused by the correct use of “desu” in past tense conjugations of i-adjectives. The correct version would be 先週は寒かったです. The adjective conjugates to past tense, the です remains.