[sumo] OT: Japanese language question

[Barbara]

"-mashita" is just a suffix indicating past tense, like the English 
"-ed".  In the case of "wakarimashita" it is the past tense of "wakaru" 
and is formed from the stem "waka", the link syllable "ri" and the past 
tense suffix "mashita" (or "imashita").  So you will hear endings 
sounding like "mashita" a lot because the same form attaches to most 
Japanese verbs.

I love Japanese the language, but I wish I could read it easier. 
Japanese is a language which is not too hard to learn in its spoken form 
but takes a fair amount of effort to learn well enough to read in its 
usual written form.  What I really wish is that I could read it well 
enough to enjoy its poetry and literature.  But that is not necessarily 
easy even for all Japanese. Depending on the type of text being read of 
course.  I have no problem with katakana and hiragana, but I only know 
about 100 kanji.  That's just enough to be frustrating.

Barbara Murasakihana

Kuramarujo wrote:
> 	BTW, is there any other phrases that end with "mashita" out there?
> Occasionally I hear that with out the "wakari" in front.  Or at least
> I'm not hearing the first part.