Hey language adventurers,

My latest grammatical puzzle in Japanese is the passive voice (受身形 - ukemikei). While I understand the basic concept of making the receiver of an action the subject of the sentence, the way it’s constructed and used in Japanese feels quite different and often… backwards to my English-thinking brain.

Especially when it comes to the “suffering passive” or situations where something undesirable happens to the subject, it takes a bit of mental untangling. Sayaka is doing her best to drill it into me with examples, but it’s one of those things that hasn’t quite clicked into intuitive understanding yet.

It’s fascinating how different languages choose to express similar ideas! Just another reminder of how much there is to learn.

Still puzzling it out,

Oliver

Support My Japanese Journey & Get 70% Off Preply!

Thinking of finding a language tutor? If you use my referral link for Preply, you’ll get 70% off your trial lesson. If you then subscribe, I’ll receive a $50 credit from Preply, which helps me continue my own studies!

Click here to get 70% off your Preply trial lesson