～たものだ: Statements about the past

Introduction

Welcome to today's quick-bite lesson about ～たものだ!

You learned all about ものだ and some of this usage already, but let's take a moment to appreciate it in all of its proper glory.

～たものだ: Back in my day...

構成こうせい

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  Casual past form verbものだ
  Example:
  → 子供こどもの頃ころ、よくあのガソリンスタンドでお菓子かしを買かったものだ。
  "We would often buy snacks at that gas station when we were kids."

The ～たものだ structure combines a past casual verb (～た) with 「ものだ」, or 「もんだ」 in casual speech. This 「ものだ」 is a fairly ambiguous piece of grammar that chameleons itself into various contexts, and means something along the lines of "X is a thing that...". But I think a better way to think of 「ものだ」 is simply as an emphatic marker, that adds an emotional quality to our statement!