やすみ

どうして がっこう を やすみ ましたか。

Let's complete the sentence "どうして ＿＿ ＿＿ ★ ＿＿ 。" which means "Why did you...?" The correct sequence is "どうして がっこう を やすみ ましたか。" meaning "Why were you absent from school?" The correct choice is "やすみ" (yasumi). This is the stem form of the verb "やすむ" (yasumu - to be absent, to rest). It directly combines with "ましたか" to form "やすみましたか", which means "were you absent?" in the past tense, polite form. "がっこう" (gakkou - school) is wrong because it's the object of the verb. It needs the particle "を" after it and comes before the verb phrase. "を" (o) is wrong because it's a particle, and needs a noun before it. "ましたか" (mashitaka) is wrong because it's the polite past tense question ending and should come at the very end of the verb phrase, not in the middle before the star. **Grammar Tip:** To ask a polite past tense question with an action verb, use the verb stem + `ましたか`. For example, `たべます` (to eat) -> `たべましたか` (did you eat?).

「どうして ＿＿ ＿＿ ★ ＿＿ 。」の正しい文は「どうして がっこう を やすみ ましたか。」（なぜ学校を休んだのですか。）です。 「やすみ」は動詞「やすむ」の連用形（ます形から「ます」を取った形）です。後ろの「ましたか」と合わせて「やすみましたか」となり、過去の疑問文を作ります。 「がっこう」は動詞の目的語なので「を」の前です。「を」は助詞なので名詞の後ろです。「ましたか」は文の終わりに来ます。