Which of these Japanese words is most correct?

Question

For saying "Do you understand?" is it

wakarimashtaka or wakarimasuka?

I've seen them both used in different Japanese language books and am wondering if there is a difference or if one is incorrect.

Also, while I see KONNICHIWA used for "Hi" most often, I sometimes see the spelling with HA....KONNICHI-HA. Is there an explanation for that difference in spelling?

Answer 1

Wakarimashita- did you understand?/You understood

Wakarimasu- you understand?

Depends on the situation on which you use.

Konnichi wa is written as konnichi ha sometimes because は= ha in Japanese, however it's pronounced as "wa" sometimes.  People with IME keyboards sometimes forget and write "ha" instead of "wa."

は=ha ~ sounds like wa.  

Answer 2

Hello there!

You raise to very good questions and I'll answer as best as i can. If my answer is not exactly what you want, please remember that it's only 6.21 in Australia. I'm super tired.

Anyways!

Wakaru - to understand

Wakarimasu - to understand (polite form)

wakarimasu ka - DO YOU understand?

wakarimashita ka - DID YOU understand?

wakarimashita is the past tense of wakarimasu.

If someone asks you "wakarimasu ka" it means "are you, right now, understanding"

If someone asks "wakarimashita ka" it means "did you understand that/have you got that?"

If you are talking about, for example, a test result and you are unhappy with it, your teacher may explain why you didn't do well, then say "wakarimasu ka" "do you understand". But they could ask "wakarimashita ka" asking "did you understand what i said". However, lots of Japanese learning materials will say that "wakarimashita ka" means "do you understand", when really it means "did you understand", but it is used the same as "wakarimasu ka". The only real difference between the two is the tenses.

OK, the different spelling for konnichi-wa/ha.

Konnichi is followed by the hiragana - ha. Ha is written: は. However, in this case, ha is a particle. Although they use the hiragana ha, when ha is a particle it is read as wa.

So what is happening is that SOME books translate it with wa because it is pronounced wa, even though the symbol for ha is used. Whereas SOME books use ha because the hiragana ha is used. Even when "ha" is written, it should be pronounced "wa".

Particle wa, written with hiragana symbol ha, is a topic marking particle. When ha is not the particle it is pronounced ha, when it is a particle, pronounced wa.

Can you computer read Japanese, if so, this will explain the difference

わたし   は   おもしろい  ÃƒÂ£Ã‚Â§Ã£ÂÂ™Ã£Â€Â‚

watashi WA  omoshiroi    desu.

はな   が   すき   です。

hana   ga   suki   desu.

Note how each has the symbol は? However, in the top 1, it is marking the sentence. Watashi wa omoshiroi desu - i am funny. ha is a particle here therefore pronounced wa. The next one, hana ga suki desu - i like flowers, the ha in hana is not a particle, therefore it is pronounced ha.

So what is happening, in konnichi-wa, wa is actually the particle は. So some books say it is wa, because as a particle that is how it is explained, others say ha because that is how it is written.

Sorry this is so long,

Beau

:)

Answer 3

So for your first question...

wakarimashita ka？means "Did you understand?"

So you can say this if you just gave the listener some instructions, and you want to confirm that he understood them.

wakarimasu ka? means "Do you understand?"

And typically you say this if you're not entirely sure that he understands Japanese, and you want to confirm that he does in fact understand the language.

For your second question...

If you've studied Hiragana, konnichiwa is spelled こんにちは.

The last syllable is written with the symbol typically used to spell the sound "ha", but is pronounced "wa" in this case.

So depending on the romanization method, it can be spelled both ways using the Latin alphabet.  In Japanese writing however, there's only one spelling.  And when read out loud, it is always always "ko-n-ni-chi-wa".

I suggest starting to learn Hiragana and Katakana.  You'll need them if you want to learn Japanese.  Also, once you do, there won't be such an ambiguous problem anymore =D

Cheers!