Fun... and Japanese

I've been fiddling with the demotivators site. If you like Daleks, Interview With the Vampire, and assorted other things...

( Here there be silliness. )

Japanese update:

So... Verbs. Gods and Goddeses, verbs...

Okay, so when you're learning Japanese, if you're learning it right, you're sorta kinda learning four languages. You're learning Formal Japanese, Informal Japanese, Masculine Japanese, and Feminine Japanese. They've all got a lot of words in common, but there are enough differences that it can occasionally scramble your brain trying to keep it all strait.

With verbs, the formal conjugations aren't too bad. There are one or two that are a little tricky, such as: Suru = Do or Doing. (Somehow, in the course of formal conjugation, it becomes Shimasu, Shimashita, et cetera.) But mostly you just leave the stem alone, take off the last syllable or so and put on the right ending, which is the same for all of them.

However, the ones that will split your head open like a mellon, the ones that will leave you feeling a bit dazed and vaguely violated, the verbs that you will have recurring nightmares of being tied down by, then menaced with assorted power tools... are the informal ones. The ending is completely different, depending on the last syllable of the dictionary form.

Example:
The following are verbs in the formal past tense.

Arukimashita = Walked
Erabimashita = Chose
Ikimashita = Went

The same verbs in the informal past tense:

Aruita
Eranda
Isoida

What do they all have in common? They are the Yakuza of Japanese grammar, and they're all out to get you.

*End of lesson*

(Check your pinkies.)