日本語 Lesson

Today we will learn the passive form. According to my Japanese teacher, who is a native, the passive form is used a lot in Japanese. It is seldom used in English and is frowned upon when you use it in papers or journalism.

Example in English:
Superman helped Lois Lane.
Passive version of the sentence is: Lois Lane was helped by Superman.

Example #1
ロイスレインはスーパーマンによってたすけられた。
によって ni is the particle while speaking, when you write passive sentences use niyotte
たすけられた tasukeru means to help. Here are the rules for conjugating passive verbs:
Class 2: Drop る and add られる

(Past sentence られた)

Example #2
ととろははやおみやざきによってつくられた。
つくられた tsukuru means to make. Here are the rules for conjugating passive verbs:
Class 1: Change ending "u" to "a" and add れる

Class 3:
する　－　される
くる　－　こられる

Random Fact: We were learning VERY polite terms. If you want to impress strangers use this extremely formal way of asking what someone's name is.

おなまえはなんとおっしやいますか。
Onamae wa nanto osshyaimasuka? (I translate to exact spelling of ramanji. The only difference is that I still use wa instead of ha because of the pronunciation. Meaning I'll use Youkoso instead of Yookoso. )