| Alternative spellings |
|---|
| 永遠 永久 常 |
/topa/ → /towa/
From Old Japanese. Appears in the Tales of Ise, likely dating to the early 900s CE. Pronounced as toba until the later Heian period.[1]
Ultimate derivation unknown. May be a contraction of earlier 常 (tokotoba),[1] or may have been an independent term used to form tokotoba as a compound.[2]
とわ • (towa) ←とは (tofa)?-na (adnominal とわな (towa na), adverbial とわに (towa ni))
Listed in some dictionaries[1][3][5] as a 形容動詞 (keiyō dōshi, “-na adjective”); other sources[2] only list this as a 副詞 (fukushi, “adverb”). Historical usage suggests that this was only used with particle に (ni) as an adverb, and not with particle な (na) or classical なる (naru) as an adjective. When this appears attributively, it is followed by particle の (no),[3][5][2] the usual construction when using a noun to modify another noun.
| Stem forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | とわだろ | towa daro | |
| Continuative (連用形) | とわで | towa de | |
| Terminal (終止形) | とわだ | towa da | |
| Attributive (連体形) | とわな | towa na | |
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | とわなら | towa nara | |
| Imperative (命令形) | とわであれ | towa de are | |
| Key constructions | |||
| Informal negative | とわではない とわじゃない |
towa de wa nai towa ja nai | |
| Informal past | とわだった | towa datta | |
| Informal negative past | とわではなかった とわじゃなかった |
towa de wa nakatta towa ja nakatta | |
| Formal | とわです | towa desu | |
| Formal negative | とわではありません とわじゃありません |
towa de wa arimasen towa ja arimasen | |
| Formal past | とわでした | towa deshita | |
| Formal negative past | とわではありませんでした とわじゃありませんでした |
towa de wa arimasen deshita towa ja arimasen deshita | |
| Conjunctive | とわで | towa de | |
| Conditional | とわなら（ば） | towa nara (ba) | |
| Provisional | とわだったら | towa dattara | |
| Volitional | とわだろう | towa darō | |
| Adverbial | とわに | towa ni | |
| Degree | とわさ | towasa | |