In Japanese the mashita ending is the past form of polite verbs.
To buy (root form) - Kau
To buy (polite form) - kaimasu
To buy (polite form, past) - kaimashita
In my Japanese text book it has the following example
Where did you buy it?
Doko de kattan desu ka?
Why is the speaker using kattan
instead of kaimashita
(especially as kattan
is defined as coal)?
Could kattan
be substituted with kaimashita
?
How does the meaning change when using kattan
or kaimashita
?
kattan
(instead ofKaimashita
) to be more informal and to soften the question so it's not so demanding. And so, yes, you can switch it withKaimashita
?. But then does that mean it is always better to usen desu
forms to avoid sounding rude when asking questions? Is that correct? Also, is to buy another meaning ofKattan
? (In addition to coal?) Thanks!katta
(ta-form) +no
(contracted ton
) +desu
+ka
. (2) Neither is milder nor politer than the other.no/n
has an important role and omitting it would sound very awkward. Please read the linked answers carefully.