Lesson 10.3 kotowarareta

In 10.3 why is kotowarareta used and not kotowatta? The latter seems to be the plain form past of kotowaru - the former is some rather complicated form ('passive respectful') I dont know - & I dot really see why its needed. Plain past does it surely - 'he rejected'.

Kotowaru is transitive. It needs an object. You couldn't therefore just say "he rejected". It doesn't make a coherent sentence. It's like saying "I buy". (grammatical no-no) It could be "sugu watashi wo kotowatta". But in the context of the sentence, the verb is in the passive mood, which makes sense. It's saying "When I told the real estate agent.... (I) was quickly turned down (by him).". (That's a minor complaint I have with some of the audio lessons; the translations are sometimes a tad inaccurate, though the relevant grammar is address in the grammar lessons.) Also, transitive verbs can exist in the passive mood without needing a direct object, iirc.

わかりました! I think what confused me was the translation, " he turned me down " so I was expecting something like your "sugu watashi wo kotowatta". I do need to become more aware of which verbs are transitive & which intransitive; its seems many come in pairs such as はじまる (I)　and はじめる (T) I do wonder if its a good idea in lesson 10.3 to compicate life with the passive form when it could have been the more obvious plain past. Perhaps its another circumlocution to avoid the use of 私. Is this passive construction covered in the grammar lessons? I dont recall seeing it :-( & didnt find it on a quick browse. Thanks again

The passsive is very common in Japanese. The passive voice is definitely covered in some of the later audio lessons. I'm not which of the grammar lessons is on it, though I think do remember seeing one. Most likely it's just a sub-category of a lesson with a different title. Transitive-intransitive pairs are horribly numerous, though out of commonly used verbs, there aren't too many. Probably learn the common patterns associated with each, eg: "~aru" (I) and "~eru" (T). (In this case it's speculated that ~eru is from "suru" and "~aru" is from....aru).