Hello everyone!
I'd like to ask for some help in understanding the use of kaetta vs. kaerimasu in this sentence from module 5.3.
You should return home for Christmas:
クリスマスに帰ったほうがいいですよ / Kurisumasu ni kaetta hō ga īdesu yo
Why isn't it:
クリスマス に 帰ります ほう が いい です よ / kurisumasu ni kaerimasu hō ga īdesu yo
I read kaetta as "went back / returned" - but the sentence isn't in the past tense. It seems to me it says "you should have returned for Christmas" rather than a recommendation to what to do moving forward. I'm assuming it's because nothing should come after the ~masu tense in the sentence, so the tense needed to be changed to allow for hō ga īdesu yo. But I'm not sure, and if so, then why the past tense?
Thank you very much for any light you can shed!! :-)
I'd like to ask for some help in understanding the use of kaetta vs. kaerimasu in this sentence from module 5.3.
You should return home for Christmas:
クリスマスに帰ったほうがいいですよ / Kurisumasu ni kaetta hō ga īdesu yo
Why isn't it:
クリスマス に 帰ります ほう が いい です よ / kurisumasu ni kaerimasu hō ga īdesu yo
I read kaetta as "went back / returned" - but the sentence isn't in the past tense. It seems to me it says "you should have returned for Christmas" rather than a recommendation to what to do moving forward. I'm assuming it's because nothing should come after the ~masu tense in the sentence, so the tense needed to be changed to allow for hō ga īdesu yo. But I'm not sure, and if so, then why the past tense?
Thank you very much for any light you can shed!! :-)