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wakatta and wakarimashita are used sometimes in anime. I understand one is
informal and the other is formal past tense. When do you have to use the
informal and when to use the formal tenses of the verbs? Are there a set of
rules or is it something vague?
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2016-06-26T16:22:24.937
36195
2016-09-25T23:02:06.570
2016-09-25T23:02:06.570
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question
usage conjugations politeness formality
when to use formal and informal conjugations?
wakaru is the verb "to understand".

wakatta is its past tense informal form.

wakarimashita is its past tense polite or formal form.

So they both mean "Understood".

As a Japanese learner or foreigner in their country, you should be using
polite forms until you make some friends and speak with them "informally".

Also the informal tense is used in some grammar situations, as for:

The relative clause (adjacent adjective):

> 分かった質問【しつもん】. "Understood question"
>
> 結婚【けっこん】した男【おとこ】です. "(he) is a married man".
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2016-06-26T17:03:33.973
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2016-09-24T11:10:17.220
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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Most European languages have a clear distinction between formal and informal,
which usually shows up as two conjugations for "you." The Japanese have
multiple distinctions for politeness/formality, the most obvious of which is
the です／ます distinction. However, it is not used in exactly the same way as the
European versions.

The explanation I was given for this in university is that です／ます conveys
social distance. When you use these forms, you are being polite to the
listener, and not claiming them as a close acquaintance. It's a "safe" way of
speaking, because you aren't implying a right to address this person as an
intimate or subordinate. Of course, it also conveys a certain degree of
coolness; it implies that you are not friends, just acquaintances.

In the case of 分かった and 分かりました, they are in the same tense (both are
"completed" actions), but at different distances. 分かった is the plain form; it
implies that you know the listener well enough that you don't need to be
careful or especially polite. 分かりました is the distant form, and has the same
literal meaning but is socially more careful, or distant..
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2016-09-25T16:37:11.010
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2016-09-25T16:37:11.010
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answer