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Question to Teacher: Does WAKATTA YO mean I understood?
Course 2 Lesson 9: Speaking Informally (Grammar)

katie

Post Date: 2004-03-12 06:23:38

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2003 Aug 07

Questions: 2
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In the examples in Part 8, わかったよ is translated as "I understand!" Shouldn't it be "I understood!"?

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JFZ_George

Post Date: 2004-03-12 06:38:06

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わかったよ (WAKATTA YO) = I understood. (Informal)

The translation should be I understood, but there are other ways of translating this word.

For example;

A: そうじをしてください。(SOUJI O SHITE KUDASAI) = Please clean up (rooms).
B: わかったよ。(WAKATTA YO) = All right.

A: うちにかえるとき、でんわをしてください。(UCHI NI KAERU TOKI, DENWA O SHITE KUDASAI) = Please call me when you go home.
B: わかったよ。(WAKATTA YO) = I got it. (OK)

The particle よ (YO) is similar to the English exclamation mark. It is used when conveying strong feeling, emotion and sometimes triumph. It can also be used for emphasis, such as I'm certain (of what has just been said).

So if you don't want to make it sound strong, you can just say わかった (WAKATTA).

I hope it helps.

Kanako @ YesJapan