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was/is- plain form

Japanese translation: datta

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:was/is- plain form
Japanese translation:datta
Entered by: Mumu Watanabe (X)

13:42 Nov 4, 2003
English to Japanese translations [Non-PRO]
English term or phrase: was/is- plain form
I know guys that you are pretty determined to answer only professional translations-related questions but I hope you can help me. I am currently studying the plain form in Japanese and am slightly confused about it. I know that the plain form of 'des' is 'da' but apparently you don't always use it ('ookine?' not 'ookida'- correct me if I am wrong).
How then would you say 'today is Friday' (or whatever day really' and 'yesterday was Friday' - 'datta'????
I am clueless, please help. Would appreciate it.
Monika Sojka
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:12
datta
Explanation:
When we say, "yesterday was Friday", we use datta ("kinou ha kin-youbi datta") because we use da ("kyou ha kin-youbi da") when we say, "today is Friday".


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Note added at 2003-11-04 16:22:46 (GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

\"kinou wa kinyoubi\" is not a complete sentence and gives an impression that the speaker is childish or informal.
Selected response from:

Mumu Watanabe (X)
Local time: 01:12
Grading comment
that's exactly what I wanted, maybe I wasn't too clear. I remember my teacher told me that you don't use 'da/datta' at the end of a sentence in some cases so I was just wondering whether you'd say 'kinou wa kinyoubi'- whether it was enough and grammatically correct or you needed to ad 'datta' in this case. Thank you all your your help
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5datta
Mumu Watanabe (X)
3desu/da - deshita/datta // arimasu - arimashita
swisstell
2でした/です
cinefil


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
desu/da - deshita/datta // arimasu - arimashita


Explanation:
DESU and DESHITA are used by anybody and on every occasion. DA instead of DESU and DATTA instead of DESHITA are used in familiar speech among men, rarely by women. - You might be better of with
ARIMASU/ARIMASHITA i.e. to have/there is (present) and there was/were (past) - and this refers to inanimate objects, unlike ORIMASU and the more polite IMASU for human beings.


    Japanese Conversation Grammar by Vaccari
swisstell
Italy
Local time: 17:12
Native speaker of: German
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
datta


Explanation:
When we say, "yesterday was Friday", we use datta ("kinou ha kin-youbi datta") because we use da ("kyou ha kin-youbi da") when we say, "today is Friday".


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-04 16:22:46 (GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

\"kinou wa kinyoubi\" is not a complete sentence and gives an impression that the speaker is childish or informal.

Mumu Watanabe (X)
Local time: 01:12
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in pair: 22
Grading comment
that's exactly what I wanted, maybe I wasn't too clear. I remember my teacher told me that you don't use 'da/datta' at the end of a sentence in some cases so I was just wondering whether you'd say 'kinou wa kinyoubi'- whether it was enough and grammatically correct or you needed to ad 'datta' in this case. Thank you all your your help
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
でした/です


Explanation:
I'm not sure what you want to know.
But If you feel 'da/datta' is not suitable how about 'desu/deshita'
URLs below may be helpful for you.


    Reference: http://www.thejapanesepage.com/grammar.htm
    Reference: http://abacus.bates.edu/~kofuji/StudyResources/checking.html
cinefil
Japan
Local time: 01:12
Native speaker of: Native in JapaneseJapanese
PRO pts in pair: 2937
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