MashiePotatoes wrote:I noticed some words that end with mashita but are not past tense.
Japanese doesn't really have tenses in the same way as English. English is concerned with
when something happens while Japanese is more concerned with the state of the action--whether it's completed or is ongoing, and so on. The
~mashita ending indicates that the action has been completed; most of the time a completed action is going to be one that is in the past, so the
~mashita ending usually implies that the action happened in the past.
For example, when you say I'm tired, you say tsukaremashita instead of tsukaremasu. I know TECHNICALLY 'tired' is like... in the past tense form in eigo so does it work the same way in Jap?
Yes, that's pretty much what's happening. When you say
tsukaremashita, you're saying that you
have achieved (note the tense) a state of tiredness.
Another one would be Arigatou gozaimashita, where -masu is changed to make it more polite, right? Really confused.
Although
arigatou gozaimasu translates as "thank you", it doesn't actually mean that. It's a comment on the kind deed that was done for you. If you think of
arigatou gozaimasu as meaning something roughly along the lines of "that is very kind of you", then
arigatou gozaimashita is equivalent to "that
was very kind of you". I don't think there's any difference in politeness.
Oh... if anyone knows other words that end with mashita but are not past tense do share here so that I can learn and hopefully others that are confused can learn too
Also those words that end with mashita to makeit sound more polite. I would love to know
There's
wakarimashita, which you'd translate as "I understand". Think of it as "understood" or "got it". You wouldn't say "understand" or "getting it".
And there's
yokatta, the plain (casual or non-polite) past form of
ii. You'd translate it as "That's great!", "That's brilliant!" or "That's awesome!" even when the great, brilliant or awesome thing has already happened and is a done deed.
Arigatou gozaimasu in advance
Since
arigatou gozaimasu is a comment on the deed itself rather than your feelings about it, you can't use it to mean "thanks in advance". This is where you need
yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
マイケル
