Yes, やっと and やった are different words… but it is a little strange to see someone happily/excitedly shouting やっと in an exclamation of accomplishment.
やっと (adv) (1) at last; at length; (2) barely; narrowly; just; by the skin of one’s teeth
While in English we could shout “finally!” or “at last!” with exuberance, our meaning when we use the words in that sense is “hooray!” Using a literal translation of the English words doesn’t match the spirit of the speaker’s intent. If you try to imagine someone shouting the other variations of やっと in English, it begins to sound weird: “At length! Just barely!”
These other translations shed some light on the nuance of what やっと actually means to a native speaker. It also helps explain why やった would have been a more natural choice, as やった is used in this exact context (an exclamation of “we did it!”) in Japanese all the time.
Qwerty2999
This has been, your Japanese lesson for the day.
XD
5 thoughts on “08/27/2010”
thew40
Dani does not look convinced.
Feldo
ummm, kasumi your japanese say it right… its yatta not yatto
KB
Yatta and Yatto are two different words.
Language Pedant
Yes, やっと and やった are different words… but it is a little strange to see someone happily/excitedly shouting やっと in an exclamation of accomplishment.
やっと (adv) (1) at last; at length; (2) barely; narrowly; just; by the skin of one’s teeth
While in English we could shout “finally!” or “at last!” with exuberance, our meaning when we use the words in that sense is “hooray!” Using a literal translation of the English words doesn’t match the spirit of the speaker’s intent. If you try to imagine someone shouting the other variations of やっと in English, it begins to sound weird: “At length! Just barely!”
These other translations shed some light on the nuance of what やっと actually means to a native speaker. It also helps explain why やった would have been a more natural choice, as やった is used in this exact context (an exclamation of “we did it!”) in Japanese all the time.
Qwerty2999
This has been, your Japanese lesson for the day.
XD
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