waraaremashita

Waraaremashita is a Japanese verb form that translates to "was laughed at" in English. It is the polite past passive form of the verb warau, meaning to laugh, and it describes a situation in which the speaker or another subject became the object of laughter.

In Japanese grammar, the verb warau participates in the passive voice to shift the focus from the doer of the action to the receiver. The plain passive form is warawareru, and when converted to polite past, it becomes warawarimashita. The commonly seen transliteration of the phrase 笑われました is waraware-mashita, though some nonstandard spellings such as waraaremashita appear in informal contexts. The essential meaning remains “was laughed at” and the agent (the person or people who laughed) is typically marked with a particle such as に (ni) or で (de).

Usage notes:

- Waraaremashita is used to report or describe past events in which laughter directed at the subject occurred, often with a nuance of being the target of mockery or embarrassment, though it can be neutral depending on context.

- Common constructions include 私は / 私が followed by 笑われました to indicate the subject in question, with phrases like 皆に笑われました (I was laughed at by everyone).

- In casual speech, the plain past passive form might appear as 笑われた, while formal contexts use 笑われました.

Overall, waraaremashita is a standard, polite way to express that one was the recipient of laughter in a past event.