What is the plain form (普通形) of どうでした? Is it どうだった or just どう? And is the plain form of Vてください just て?


How do I turn interrogatives into plain form?

What is the plain form (普通けい) of どうでした? Is it どうだった or just どう? And is the
plain form of Vてください just て?




>   1. どうでした?
>   2. どうだった?
>

>
> How was it? / Did it go well?

Yes, Sentence 2 is an informal/casual equivalent of 1. Just saying "どう?" would
change the meaning ("How is it? / Is it going well?") because it lacks the
past marker (た).

>   1. 見てください。
>   2. 見て。
>

>
> (Please) look!

Sentence 1 is a polite request and Sentence 2 is an informal request. However,
I think "form" is not the right word to describe this difference, because this
ください is basically a distinct subsidiary verb added after the main verb. These
are just two different patterns of making a request in Japanese, and neither
is a different "form" of the other. There are other ways of making a request
with different nuances (見な, 見てちょうだい, 見てくれ, 見ていただけませんか, ご覧なさい, ご覧あれ, ...), just
as English has many ways of making a request with different politeness levels,
including "Please ...", "Would you mind if you...", "Can you ...". (EDIT: You
can use "polite/plain _style_ " or "polite/informal _style_ " to distinguish
those two expressions.)

