What does 持った mean?

Question

If context is needed, please consult this previous question.

So, there's a bunch of verbs related to "持っ" but how can any of them evolve to 持った?

Answer 1

The past tense ～た attaches to the 連用形 "continuative form" of verbs, which for consonant stem verbs is formed by adding -i- to the stem, and for vowel stem verbs is formed by adding nothing.

For vowel stem verbs, this is fairly simple:

    寝る       ne-ru   →    　寝た    ne-ta
    見る       mi-ru   →    　見た    mi-ta

For consonant stem verbs, it's more complicated. Depending on which consonant the stem ends with, we find an additional set of sound changes:

    書く      kak-u    →   *書きた   kak-i-ta    →    書いた  ka-i-ta　
    脱ぐ      nug-u    →   *脱ぎた   nug-i-ta    →    脱いだ  nu-i-da　
    話す    hanas-u    →    話した hanas-i-ta
    持つ      mot-u    →   *持ちた   mot-i-ta    →    持った   mot-ta　
    死ぬ      sin-u    →   *死にた   sin-i-ta    →    死んだ   sin-da　
    運ぶ    hakob-u    →   *運びた hakob-i-ta    →    運んだ hakon-da　
    噛む      kam-u    →   *噛みた   kam-i-ta    →    噛んだ   kan-da　
    やる      yar-u    →   *やりた   yar-i-ta    →    やった   yat-ta　
    言う       iw-u    →   *言いた    iw-i-ta    →    言った    it-ta　

Note that /w/ disappears before all vowels except /a/, so iw-u is 言う, iw-anai is 言わない, etc.

Three otherwise regular consonant stem verbs are irregular here:

    行く       ik-u    →   *行きた    ik-i-ta    →    行った    it-ta　
    問う      tow-u    →   *問いた   tow-i-ta    →    問うた   too-ta　
    請う      kow-u    →   *請いた   kow-i-ta    →    請うた   koo-ta

These last two reflect western sound changes, while the regular verbs reflect eastern sound changes.

And our irregular verbs are irregular as usual:

    する       suru    →    　した      si-ta
    来る       kuru    →    　来た      ki-ta

The same changes apply when adding て, たり, たら, or たって rather than た.

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In this answer, the * symbol indicates that a form is considered incorrect in Modern Japanese, and is included only to show you how the forms "evolved" (as you asked).