# used to/once



## kyn

As far as I know, "Vたものだ" means "used to". But that's only the case when Vたもの is at the end of a sentence. How do you say:
- This is the place where I used to/once live.
- This is the book I used to/once like.
- This is the man I used to/once work with.


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## notnotchris

Great question kyn. As far as I know, such a structure does not exist so you have to use words like 前に and 昔.


kyn said:


> - This is the place where I used to/once live.
> - This is the book I used to/once like.
> - This is the man I used to/once work with.


ここは昔住んでいたところです
これは好きだった本です
彼は前に一緒に働いていた人です
The last two feel unnatural, so maybe you'd have to drop this sentence structure altogether.


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## kyn

By "drop this sentence structure altogether", do you mean there isn't a way (or a structure combination) to say those examples of mine in Japanese, each in only one sentence?


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## notnotchris

I think there's a way, but that exact structure may not be the most natural way. Perhaps native speakers can help here. I will try again

- This is the place where I used to/once live.
ここが昔すんでいたところです。

- This is the book I used to/once like.
これが昔好きだった本です。 (sounds a bit awkward, so maybe a verb is better), like:
これが昔よく読んでいた本です。

- This is the man I used to/once work with.
彼が前に一緒に働いていた人です。
彼が私の元同僚です (not sure if this construction is acceptable)
彼が前の仕事からの同僚です。 (this is how I'd probably say it, but I'm not sure if it's the best way; it's a bit wordy)


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## Flaminius

Actually 住んでいた already expresses "used to live" because V-teita is past imperfective (what was the wont or practised in a vague past; without referring to a specific point where the custom was terminated).  Adverbs such as 以前, 前に, 昔 and the likes are used for disambiguation that the construction does not mean past progressive (for example, さっきまで走っていた).

*notnotchris*,
your sentences are all correct but  彼が前の仕事からの同僚です.
Well, not that the sentence itself is incorrect but it means that he has been a colleague in one's former job and still a colleague in the present job.  In sense of "I used to work with him" I would say;
彼は前の仕事での同僚です,
where 前の仕事 can be replaced by 前職 or 前社 (one's former job or company).


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## jazyk

> In sense of "I used to work with him" I would say;
> 彼は前の仕事での同僚です,


Is it okay too to use a more literal translation like "(私/僕は)彼と一緒に働いていた。"?


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## erico

>Is it okay too to use a more literal translation like "(私/僕は)彼と一緒に働いていた。"?

（以前）　彼と(一緒に)仕事をしていました。

＞ここは昔住んでいたところです

ここは　---　Here


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## KiPo

彼は前の仕事*で*の同僚です

彼と一緒に働いていた

Meaning is the same but the speech levels are totally different. The above uses the neutral form of politeness です／ます and the below even uses informal dictionary form. You can't just interchange them. 

To find out which of the two is appropriate depends completely on who are you talking to. What is the relationship to you. Superior? Older than you?

Anyway the first phrase is more formal and in doubt it is never wrong to be a bit too polite.


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## Flaminius

Hello *KiPo*,
...and welcome to the WordReference fora!



> 彼は前の仕事*で*の同僚です


You may find 仕事での more stiff and less used than 仕事の, but I don't think it is wrong.  What do you think?


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## KiPo

Thanks for the warm welcome m(_ _)m

I don't think it is really correct, because you use Place+でonly in connection with verbs to express that you did something in a certain place. 

Since you however only say 同僚だ it just sounds wrong. です／であるis not a verb that expresses any action but only existence of things or facts.

前の仕事で[何々]をした。
At my last job I did [xyz].

In that case the expression is correct. 

So even if your phrase would be grammatically correct, I don't think anybody would say it.

You could probably use it in conjunction with a noun that expresses action of some kind. And then it would work.

前の仕事での（ご）協力.
The cooperation at the last job.

In that case you actually would *have to* sayでの, because otherwise the cooperation would directly refer to the job which itself cannot cooperate and the sentence would be wrong.

Oops I just noticed that you appear to be a native speaker. Well, you have the official permission to shoot me now (embarassed by my own arrogance...)... still it sounds wrong... neenerneenerneener ;-P


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## erico

彼は前の仕事*で*の同僚です
彼は前の仕事の同僚です
I think that both are well understandable lebel. 

But I say.....
彼は前の"職場"の同僚です。

if I use the word "仕事", I would say ...
彼とは前に一緒に仕事をしていました。


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