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Formation: V-dictionary / V-ない / i-adj + ものだ; na-adj + な + ものだ; V-た + ものだ (past habit); V-たい + ものだ (strong wish); negative: V-dictionary + ものではない
Has several related uses. (1) It states what is true by nature or is generally expected (人は変わるものだ). From this comes social advice, 'one should' (〜ものだ), and 'one shouldn't' (〜ものではない). (2) With V-た, it recalls a past habit with nostalgia (よく〜たものだ), and only works for repeated actions, not one-off events. (3) It expresses heartfelt feeling or admiration, as in 早いものだ or 〜たいものだ. Unlike 〜ことだ, which gives specific advice to a listener in their situation, ものだ appeals to common sense or the nature of things. べきだ is a more direct personal judgment of obligation. In speech it often becomes もんだ.
Variants: もんだ、ものではない、ものだった、〜たいものだ
Examples
- 子どもの頃は、この川でよく泳いだものだ。
When I was a child, I often used to swim in this river. - 人の話は最後まで聞くものだ。
You should hear people out to the end. - 月日が経つのは本当に早いものだ。
How quickly time really flies.
In real texts 1 occurrence(s)
じぶんへの戒めとして、書いておく（笑） · 2026年11月7日
いまの親たち、先生たちはちがうのかもしれないが、ぼくの世代や、もうちょっと下の世代くらいまでは、大人たちから「いい気になるな」「慢心するな」、「簡単なことなどひとつもない」「努力が足りない」、「甘く見るんじゃない」というような警戒のことばを、ひっきりなしに言われてきたものだ。
Today's parents and teachers may be different, but up through my generation and perhaps one a little younger, we were constantly told words of warning by adults, such as "Don't get full of yourself," "Don't be conceited," "Nothing is ever easy," "You're not trying hard enough," and "Don't take things lightly."
Attached to the past form 言われてきた, ものだ here is the recollecting use: "we used to be told all the time." It gives the sentence the tone of an older man looking back on a shared experience, which a plain 言われてきた would lack. The trap is the general-truth use ("that's just how things are"), which attaches to the dictionary form. Don't confuse it with the next sentence, where 浸かってきたものだから looks similar but gives a reason.