Log inSign up

gomen ne, kinou ha ikimasen desita.

ごめん　ね、　昨日きのう　は　行いきません　でした。gomen ne, kinou ha ikimasen desita.
Sorry, I didn't go yesterday.
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have hundreds of Japanese lessons and thousands of exercises.
Start learning Japanese

Start learning Japanese now

Questions & Answers about gomen ne, kinou ha ikimasen desita.

What is the difference between ごめん, ごめんなさい, and すみません?

All three can be used to apologize, but the nuance and politeness are different.

  • ごめん

    • Very casual.
    • Used with friends, family, people close to you, or when you want to sound relaxed.
    • Similar to saying “sorry” to a friend in English.

  • ごめんなさい

    • More polite and complete.
    • Used when the apology is more serious, or to people you’re not extremely close to (teachers, seniors, etc.).
    • Closer to “I’m sorry” in a more sincere or formal way.

  • すみません

    • Polite and versatile.
    • Used as “I’m sorry”, “excuse me”, and sometimes even “thank you” (when you feel bad someone went to trouble for you).
    • Very safe for talking to strangers, shop staff, teachers, etc.

In the sentence, ごめん makes the tone casual and friendly. If you changed it to ごめんなさい or すみません, the overall feeling would become more polite or serious.

What nuance does ね add in ごめんね? Is ごめん alone different?

Sentence-final ね softens what you say and tries to connect with the listener.

  • ごめん

    • A bare apology. Neutral, can sound a bit blunt depending on tone.

  • ごめんね

    • Softer and more emotional.
    • Adds a feeling like “I’m sorry, okay?”, “I’m really sorry (you know)…”
    • Can sound a bit more caring, friendly, or intimate.

So ごめんね usually feels more gentle and heartfelt than just ごめん. It doesn’t change the meaning, but it changes the mood.

Why is there no word for “I” in this sentence?

Japanese often drops the subject when it is obvious from context.

In this sentence, I is clearly the person who didn’t go, because the speaker is apologizing. So Japanese simply leaves 私 (I) out:

  • (私は) ごめんね、昨日は行きませんでした。
    • The 私は is understood but not spoken.

This is very natural Japanese. Adding 私は is grammatically fine, but in everyday conversation it can sound a bit heavy or overly explicit unless you really need to contrast yourself with someone else.

Why does 昨日 use the particle は? What does 昨日は do here?

は is the topic marker.

Putting は after 昨日 makes yesterday the topic of the sentence:

  • 昨日は 行きませんでした。
    → As for yesterday, (I) did not go.

This can also imply a slight contrast, like:

  • Maybe other days I go, but yesterday (at least), I didn’t.

So 昨日は is not the object; it’s setting the frame of discussion: “About yesterday…”

Could we leave out は and just say 昨日行きませんでした? Would it sound different?

Yes, 昨日行きませんでした is perfectly correct and natural.

The nuance:

  • 昨日は行きませんでした

    • Slight focus or contrast on yesterday.
    • Often feels like “As for yesterday, I didn’t go (though maybe other times I do).”

  • 昨日行きませんでした

    • A bit more neutral: “I didn’t go yesterday.”
    • No extra contrast or emphasis.

In everyday speech, both versions are widely used. The は can subtly highlight yesterday, but you don’t have to include it.

How is 行きませんでした formed? I only learned 行く so far.

行きませんでした is the polite past negative form of 行く (to go).

Step by step:

  1. Dictionary form: 行く
  2. Polite non-past (ます-form): 行きます
  3. Polite non-past negative: 行きません
  4. Polite past affirmative: 行きました
  5. Polite past negative: 行きませんでした

So:

  • 行く → to go
  • 行きませんでした → did not go (polite)

The 行き part is the verb stem, and ませんでした is the polite negative past ending.

I thought でした is the past of です. Why is it attached to 行きません?

Good observation. In polite verb forms, ませんでした acts as one unit meaning “did not (polite, past)”.

You can think of it like this:

  • ます: polite helper attached to verbs
  • ません: negative polite form
  • ました: past polite form
  • ませんでした: negative + past polite form

So 行きませんでした is 行き + ませんでした.

Yes, でした is also the past of です, but when it appears as part of ませんでした, it is functioning inside the ます-conjugation system, not directly as です. Learners often just memorize ませんでした as one block: “did not (polite, past)”.

Is 行きませんでした more polite than 行かなかった? Which should I use?

Yes.

  • 行きませんでした

    • Polite (です・ます style).
    • Use with people you don’t know well, in formal situations, speaking to superiors, etc.

  • 行かなかった

    • Plain / casual form.
    • Use with close friends, family, and in relaxed settings.

In the original sentence, 行きませんでした matches polite speech.
If you changed it to casual:

  • ごめんね、昨日は行かなかった。

that would make the whole sentence casual.

Is it okay to mix casual ごめん with polite 行きませんでした in one sentence?

Yes, that kind of mixing happens in real Japanese.

  • ごめん is casual,
  • 行きませんでした is polite.

Together, it can feel like:

  • emotionally close / casual apology (ごめん)
  • but still showing politeness and distance in the explanation (行きませんでした)

You might hear this when someone talks to a friend but still wants to sound a bit respectful, or when their emotional reaction slips into casual but they stay polite overall.

For learners, it is safer to keep the levels consistent:

  • Fully polite:
    • すみません、昨日は行きませんでした。
  • Fully casual:
    • ごめんね、昨日は行かなかった。
Can the word order change, like 昨日はごめん、行きませんでした or ごめん、行きませんでした、昨日は?

Japanese word order is more flexible than English, but not everything sounds natural.

  • ごめんね、昨日は行きませんでした。

    • Very natural.

  • 昨日は、ごめんね。行きませんでした。

    • Also possible; just sounds like two short sentences:
      • As for yesterday, sorry. I didn’t go.

  • 昨日はごめん、行きませんでした。

    • Can work in casual speech, but the grouping feels a bit odd; it sounds more natural to keep ごめんね together and then explain.

  • ごめん、行きませんでした、昨日は。

    • This is unusual. Putting 昨日は at the very end like that sounds marked or unnatural in normal conversation.

Safest pattern for learners: put the time expression near the beginning:

  • ごめんね、昨日は行きませんでした。
  • 昨日は行きませんでした。ごめんね。
Is the comma after ね necessary? And what about the spaces between the words?

  • Comma (、)

    • The comma after ね is not grammatically required.
    • It just indicates a pause, similar to English commas.
    • You could also write:
      • ごめんね 昨日は行きませんでした。
      • ごめんね。昨日は行きませんでした。

  • Spaces

    • Standard Japanese writing does not use spaces between words.
    • Textbooks often add spaces to help beginners see word boundaries.
    • In normal Japanese, it would be written as:
      • ごめんね、昨日は行きませんでした。

So the comma is optional and stylistic, and the spaces are for learners, not typical native writing.

How could I say this much more politely, and how could I say it very casually?

More polite versions:

  • すみません、昨日は行きませんでした。

    • Polite and natural in most everyday situations.

  • 申し訳ありません。昨日は伺いませんでした。

    • Very formal and apologetic; used in business or when you want to be especially respectful.
    • 伺う is a humble verb for to go / to visit.

More casual versions:

  • ごめんね、昨日は行かなかった。

    • Casual, friendly.

  • 昨日行けなくてごめんね。

    • Adds the nuance “sorry I couldn’t go yesterday.”

All of these keep the same basic idea as the original sentence, but adjust the politeness level and nuance.