Tweet of the Week

They’re adorable, charming, cute, and every moment spent with them is precious. Or so parents are told before stepping into the battlefield that is daily life with toddlers. Let’s face it, tiny people seem to excel at making monumental messes wherever they go, turning a perfectly ordered room into what looks like the aftermath of several mine explosions and a stampede by angry bison.

Don’t forget to lock the cabinet doors

This mother of three toddlers @Ju_nA_0313 learned a valuable lesson last month: Never EVER forget to use the childproof locks on her kitchen cabinet.

米買った次の日、満タンの米びつをひっくり返されて、プラスでミルク缶も開けられてた😌ついでと言わんばかりに大量の輪ゴムと爪楊枝も😌引き出しストッパーの締め忘れは命取りだと学びました😌#育児衝撃画像 pic.twitter.com/Ct0gQRRf8V

— じゅんな (@Ju_nA_0313) March 29, 2019

米（こめ）買（か）った次（つぎ）の日（ひ）、満（まん）タンの米びつをひっくり返（かえ）されて、プラスでミルク缶（かん）も開（あ）けられてたついでと言（い）わんばかりに大量（たいりょう）の輪（わ）ゴムと爪楊枝（つまようじ）も引（ひ）き出（だ）しストッパーの締（し）め忘（わす）れは命取（いのちと）りだと学（まな）びました

The day after I bought rice, the rice container got poured everywhere, plus the milk cartons are all open; on top of this, there are now a lot of toothpicks and rubber bands everywhere… I learned that forgetting to put back the childproof drawer lock is a fatal mistake.

Although her kitchen looks kind of awful at the time of the picture, @Ju_nA_0313 stayed calm and took things in her stride. She even took the time to reply back to the judgmental comments questioning her parenting abilities, and whether she’s disciplined her kids properly or not.

私が全く叱ってないと言いましたか？
2〜3単語の幼児語しか話せない2歳児と、喃語しか出ていない10ヶ月の赤ちゃんに、どのように叱れば子供にとって最適かをご存知の上でおっしゃっているのですか？この子らには、こんな狭い視野で決め付け、他人を蔑むような人間にはならない未来を願っています pic.twitter.com/TzyA5dMRrk

— じゅんな (@Ju_nA_0313) March 31, 2019

私（わたし）が全（まった）く叱（しか）ってないと言（い）いましたか？
2〜3単語（たんご）の幼児語（ようじご）しか話（はな）せない2歳児（さいじ）と、喃語（なんご）しか出（で）ていない10ヶ月（っかげつ）の赤（あか）ちゃんに、どのように叱（しか）れば子供（こども）にとって最適（さいてき）かをご存知（ぞんじ）の上（うえ）でおっしゃっているのですか？この子（こ）らには、こんな狭（せま）い視野（しや）で決（き）め付（つ）け、他人（たにん）を蔑（さげす）むような人間（にんげん）にはならない未来（みらい）を願（ねが）っています

Did you say that I didn’t scold them at all? I imagine that you’re saying this based on your expert knowledge of the best way to scold a 2-year-old who can only speak a few baby words and a babbling 10-month-old baby. I’m hoping that my children won’t grow to become narrow-minded adults who look down on others.

Ultimately, she says, this is a parenting lesson, not something you can scold very young toddlers for.

実際（じっさい）こんな事（こと）は二度（にど）と起（お）きなかったし、ストッパーの締（し）め忘（わす）れも二度としなかったし、親子（おやこ）で学（まな）べた良（よ）い経験（けいけん）だったと思（おも）ってます

In fact, this never happened again and I myself never forgot the childproof lock, so I only think it’s fair to say that this became a learning experience for all of us.

If you’re wondering about giving parenthood a try or are already expecting, prepare yourself psychologically for what is about to come by searching for the hashtag #育児衝撃画像（いくじしょうげきがぞう） (shocking images of parenting) on Twitter.

How to use the passive voice in Japanese

The Japanese language relies a lot on the passive voice called 受身形（うけみけい）. It’ll probably take you a while to wrap your head around understanding the construction, especially if your native tongue doesn’t use passive so much.

Typically when the action (“what was done”) or its consequences for the speaker (“what was done to me”) are more important than the subject (“who did it”), the passive voice is preferred. Let’s look at some examples.

• 上司（じょうし）は私（わたし）を褒（ほ）めました。= My boss praised me.
• 私は上司に褒められました。= I was praised by my boss.
• 上司は彼（かれ）を叱（しか）りました。= The boss scolded him.
• 彼は上司に叱られました。= He was scolded by the boss.

The second sentence sounds more natural for Japanese, as what matters is less the subject who did the action (the boss) but what was done—giving praise or scolding. The subject is marked with the particle に. Although we did indicate the topic of the sentence with 私は and 彼は, Japanese will more naturally omit it.

Sometimes the subject will be omitted as well, like in the tweet above:

• 子供（こども）に満（まん）タンの米（こめ）びつをひっくり返（かえ）されて、プラスでミルク缶（かん）も開（ひら）けられていた。= The rice container got poured everywhere and the milk cartons opened (by the kids).

The passive voice is also convenient when you don’t know the subject.

• この五輪（ごりん）塔（とう）は200年前（ねんまえ）に建（た）てられました。= This five-story pagoda was built 200 years ago.

Here’s a quick reminder of the construction of the passive voice:

• U ending verbs: 買（か）う → 買われる
• Ru ending verbs: 建（た）てる → 建てられる
• する → される
• くる → こられる

Vocabulary

For more on learning Japanese

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