| Author | Message | ||
     Anonymous |
I have often seen the term "yokatta" in Japanese (Hirigana, no Kanji). What does it mean? | ||
| Anonymous |
よかった (yokatta) literally means "was good". Now, do you have a context to go with that? If you did, that would make it easier to tell you an exact meaning. i'll give some examples: eng: A: Did you finish your homework? B: Yup! A: Good! Now we can play! jpn: A: 宿題は、終わった？ B: はい！ A: よかった！今は遊べるね！ rmj: A: shukudai wa, owatta? B: hai! A: yokatta! ima wa asoberu ne! eng: A: How was the movie? B: It was good. jpn: A: 映画はどうだったか。 B: よかった。 rmj: A: eiga ha dou datta ka. B: yokatta. eng: A: It sure was good that they found the wallet! B: Yeah, it sure was. jpn: A: 財布が見つかってよかったね。 B: そうね、よかった。 rmj: A: saifu ga mutukatte yokatta ne. B: sou ne, yokatta. | ||
| Matjlav |
Well, could you explain what this means (here's your context): Sakebaba yokatta? 叫ばばよかった？ Arigatou! | ||
| Anonymous |
I think you mean 叫べばよかった (sakebeba yokatta). If so, that would be "i should have screamed" or something like that. どういたしまして！ (douitasiamsite) | ||
| Matjlav |
how does "yokatta" change it from "If I screamed" to "I should have screamed?" I am just a curious person. And you've been really helpful the past few days. Thanks for that. | ||
| Anonymous |
Well, i guess if you wanted you could say "if i scream, it was good"... but isn't that the same as saying "i should have screamed"? the 叫べば (sakebeba) is the "potential form" (if that's even the name for that form (^-^;;) of 叫ぶ (sakebu) (to scream). therefore: 叫べば would mean "if i/you/he/she/it/they/we/whatever scream(s)" then, if you add よかった (yokatta) (was good) the past tense of いい (ii) (good), it kind of changes into "it would have been good if i had screamed" or "i should have screamed". that make sense? lemmie know! just in case i'll give some other examples: 寝ればよかった (nerebayokatta): i/you/he/she/it/they/we/whatever should have slept 行けばよかった (ikebayokatta): i/you/he/she/it/they/we/whatever should have gone すればよかった (surebayokatta) or やればよかった (yarebayokatta): i/you/he/she/it/they/we/whatever should have done it you are very welcome! it feels nice to be appreciated. i thank you for the...erm..."thank you"? haha. i can't think of what that's called in english...... p.s. in the ro-maji for that last one, i mistyped to "mutukatte" when it should be "MItukatte" | ||
| Matjlav |
Thank you! Everything is good now. | ||
| Anonymous |
You're very welcome! I'm gonna work on the 独り/一人 thing now... that's a good question(^o^) | ||
| Matjlav |
wait! now I'm wondering four other things. how would you write "I/you/she/he/it/they/we/whatever should do it"? Would it be "すればいい" (sureba ii) or "すればよい" (sureba yoi)? Or "するべき" (suru beki)? And what would "You must do it" or "You had to do it" be? And finally, would it be correct to write "すれば良かった" (sureba yokatta) to make "I should have done it" (note that "yokatta is written in kanji")? And would it be correct to write "すればいかった" (sureba ikatta) for "I should have done it"? Answer these please! | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
"blah should do it" ------------------------------------------------- This all depends on what exactly you want to say... Give a sentence (or a few) that would express the general meaning that you want. plain verb form + べき ------------------------------------------------- This is like you have an obligation to do something (（義務として）当然), or, you must do something (（理由はどうあろうと）必ず). potential form + いい (ii)・良い (yoi) ------------------------------------------------- This can be thought of as "if ___, then it's good" or something like that. negative form + といけない or potential form + ならない or 'te'-form + は(wa)いけない ------------------------------------------------- "should" or "have to" is probably a good translation... but, direct would be "bad if not ___". EXAMPLES: テストを受けないといけない テストを受けなくてはいけない テストを受けなければならない Those are all pretty much the same thing! "i/you/blah gotta take the test" or whatever. 良い (ii) and 良い (yoi) ------------------------------------------------- non-past: いい (ii, can be either hiragana or kanji) or 良い (yoi, can be either hiragana or kanji) past: 良かった (yokatta, can be hiragana or kanji) I don't think really say "ikatta".... "yokatta" is definitely main-stream pronounciation. (i think that's everything) | ||
| Matjlav |
So would 叫べばいい (sakebeba ii) mean "You/I/he/she/it/they/we should scream"? And the べき (beki) would mean that you must do something, as in you have no choice? But I still don't understand what you use the テストを受けないといけない thing and others for... | ||
| Matjlav |
please answer!! | ||
| Matjlav |
oh yeah, and as for the "te-form" + はいけない, shouldn't it be "negative te-form" + はいけない? | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
テストを受けないといけない Let's break it down. テストを受ける means "take a test" と is a conjunction (i guess) いけない means "is not good" (different way from よくない) テストを受けないと means literally "if i don't take the test, then ....." テストを受けないといけない means literally "if i don't take the test, then it's not good". Thus, it means "i have to take the test". Japanese uses many constructions that look at something from another angle; "the ball was thrown" versus "i threw the ball", etc. | ||
| Matjlav |
so it is "negative te-form" + はいけない? | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
If that's what you want to call it, i have no problem | ||
| Mr. Anonymous |
Maybe "negative te-form" is more specific. I shall change my ways. Is there a way to edit posts? | ||
| Matjlav |
umm... I can, being a moderator and all... | ||
| Anonymous |
(not the same anonymous) べき is used in situations like "i have to go to work later" はず means "should" but it's in the sense that "it's sunday, so the store SHOULD be closed" it's not a should like "it would be better for me to do something" ~ないといけない / いけません ~ないといけない / なりません ~なければならない all of these are just "if something doesn't happen, something wont be good." a.k.a. (i) "have" to do XX. but there are subtle differences. if you're saying "you have to do.." you use a different one usually than "i have to do" but everyone will understand you if you make that mistake (it's very insignificant, even japanese mess it up) ~ば良かった is just "if something had happened, it would have been good" aka I should have done XX most of these differences in nuance dont translate directly into english unless you've studied english grammar very extensively. in other words, most people think of "should" as "should" when in japanese different situations call for different grammar. | ||
| Anonymous |
what is the japanese form of I LOVE YOU..thanks... | ||
| Anonymous |
probably something like suki desu |