One somewhat unfortunate aspect of Japanese is the relationship between difficulty and formality.

The simplest language is casual, which is great. But most of the Japanese that you need in your initial interactions with Japanese people (traveling, studying, meeting new acquaintances, etc.) calls for more complicated, formal Japanese.

It seems to me that most learning resources out there just completely ignore casual language. Even when you see "casual language" listed in grammar and textbooks, 99% of the time it's still quite a bit stiffer than a real casual conversation (or worse, just something that nobody even says).

So feel free to complain about that all the time. It feels nice to vent, after all, yeah?

Today, I want to take a flipped approach to textbook progression--taking the last lesson's very casual language and making it formal.

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To refresh your memory, here is the conversation Rei and I had:

(Note: For word-by-word breakdowns and whatnot, please see the last lesson.)

Rei:
Tasty どう思った？
テイスティ どう　おもった？
What did you think of Tasty?

Niko:
いいじゃん。
Looks cool.

Rei:
ほんとに？
Really?

Niko:
うん。
Yeah.

Rei:
どうゆうところが？
Like what about it?

Niko:
ん～…　全部おいしそうだし、アメリカだったら簡単に作れる。
ん～…　ぜんぶ　おいしそう　だ　し、　アメリカ　だったら　かんたんに　つくれる。
Mmhm... The food all looks good, and it'd be easy to make in the U.S.

Rei:
あと分かりやすいよね。
あと　わかりやすい　よね。
Also, it's easy to understand, right?

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Now let's make this into a more formal situation and conversation. Instead of sharing a webpage with someone, let's say that we're... hmm...

Imagine that you came to Japan for a short trip. Some Japanese dude you met online offered to give you a tour of Tokyo. Like 99.982% of all Japanese people giving Tokyo tours, he took you to Asakusa, where you saw Sensoji Temple and pretty much drowned in a sea of tourists. Then this conversation followed...

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Japanese Version

Guide:
浅草どうでしたか？

You:
楽しかったです。

Guide:
どこがよかったですか？

You:
人力車に乗ったのが特に楽しかったです。

Guide:
景色も綺麗でしたね。

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Japanese & Kana Version

Guide:
浅草どうでしたか？
あさくさ　どう　でした　か？

You:
楽しかったです。
たのしかった　です。

Guide:
どこがよかったですか？
どこ　が　よかった　です　か？

You:
人力車に乗ったのが特に楽しかったです。
じんりきしゃ　に　のった　のが　とくに　たのしかった　です。

Guide:
景色も綺麗でしたね。
けしき　も　きれい　でした　ね。

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Japanese, Kana, & English Version

Guide:
浅草どうでしたか？
あさくさ　どう　でした　か？
How was Asakusa?

You:
楽しかったです。
たのしかった　です。
It was fun.

Guide:
どこがよかったですか？
どこ　が　よかった　です　か？
What did you like about it?

You:
人力車に乗ったのが特に楽しかったです。
じんりきしゃ　に　のった　のが　とくに　たのしかった　です。
It was fun riding on a rickshaw.

Guide:
景色も綺麗でしたね。
けしき　も　きれい　でした　ね。
The scenery was nice, too, right?

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Language Breakdowns

Guide:
浅草どうでしたか？
あさくさ　どう　でした　か？
How was Asakusa?
Literally: "Asakusa + how + was + か？"

This is such a useful construction, because it's just "NOUN + どうでしたか？"

So if you have a Japanese person come visit you in your home country, then you can take them to some new place, and after you visit that new place, you can ask them, "[PLACE NAME] どうでしたか？"

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You:
楽しかったです。
たのしかった　です。
It was fun.
Literally: "was fun + です."

If you want a "Survival Pack" of giving your opinion on things on Japanese (in formal situations), then just go ahead and memorize each of the following 「Past Tense い-adjective + です」 combos:

面白かったです。
おもしろかった　です。
It was interesting/fun.
Literally: "was interesting/fun + です."

おいしかったです。
It was good/delcious.
Literally: "was delicious/tasty + です."

すごかったです。
すごかった　です。
It was amazing.
Literally: "was amazing + です."

素晴らしかったです。
すばらしかった　です。
It was amazing/fantastic.
Literally: "was amazing/fantastic + です."

嬉しかったです。
うれしかった　です。
I was happy.
Literally: "was happy + です."

さみしかったです。
さみしかった　です。
It was lonely. // I was lonely.
Literally: "was lonely + です."
Note: Sometimes you'll also hear さびしい instead of さみしい, and sometimes with the kanji 寂しい or 淋しい, though without kanji is also common. All of these options confuse me. *_*

悲しかったです。
かなしかった　です。
It was sad. // I was sad.
Literally: "was sad + です."

If you didn't already know this, to put an い-adjective into past tense, you just drop off the last ～い and add ～かった. In formal language, you then add a です to the end of it. In casual language, add nothing.

楽しい → 楽し → 楽しかった
面白い → 面白 → 面白かった
おいしい → おいし → おいしかった
すごい → すご →　すごかった
素晴らしい → 素晴らし → 素晴らしかった
嬉しい → 嬉し → 嬉しかった
さみしい → さみし → さみしかった
悲しい → 悲し → 悲しかった

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Guide:
どこがよかったですか？
どこ　が　よかった　です　か？
What did you like about it?
Literally: "where + が + was good + ですか？"

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You:
人力車に乗ったのが特に楽しかったです。
じんりきしゃ　に　のった　のが　とくに　たのしかった　です。
It was fun riding on a rickshaw.
Literally: "rickshaw + に + rode + のが + especially + was fun + です."
Note: Yeah, jinrikisha is where "rickshaw" comes from... I think.

So we just had those past-tense い-adjectives above for responding to questions. But here we can level up in two ways:

(1) Saying "NOUN + が + Past-Tense い-adjective + です." gives us "NOUN was ADJECTIVE." (I put "NOUN" in italics, because the が gives it emphasis as the specific thing that was ADJECTIVE. If that doesn't make sense, don't worry about it.)

(2) Putting 特に before the adjective makes it "especially ADJECTIVE."

So while I said in (1) that we put a NOUN before が, you'll see that in the example we have 乗ったのが. This is a nominalized verb. The VERB 乗った（のった // rode）is being changed into a NOUN by placing a の onto the end of it.

For example, let's say you meet with your Japanese teacher on Skype after a trip to Japan. They say:

何が一番良かったですか？
なに　が　いちばん　よかった　です　か？
What was the best thing (about your trip)?
Literally: "what + が + number one + was good + です + か?"

Then you could say...

日本人の友達できたのが嬉しかったです。
にほんじん　の　ともだち　できた　のが　うれしかった　です。
I was so happy that I made Japanese friends.
Literally: "Japanese + の + friend(s) + was able to make + のが + was happy + です."

So "I made friends" is 友達できた. Then we can change できた, which is a VERB, into a NOUN by adding のが. A bit tricky, I know, but very useful once you get the hang of it.

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Guide:
景色も綺麗でしたね。
けしき　も　きれい　でした　ね。
The scenery was nice, too, right?
Literally: "scenery + also + pretty + was + ね."

Hope this helps you a bit in navigating those formal talks, everyone! ^^