I always hear people saying さ what does it mean!?

[John_nato]

だってさー、あのさ、だからさ

maybe more than なんか、えっと、or other fillers I think i hear さ all of the time and I am not really sure what it means, what sort of feeling it expresses and how to use it.

I get the feeling that it is similar to using "like" in English, but it seems like さ is used in many more ways than "like". It seems like This is a pretty 若者っぽい言葉, but I hear elderly people use it as well. Is there a lesson that goes over this?

[Javizy]

It probably means you're quite young and from Kantou, and if you use it a lot, it probably means you're pretty annoying I've heard people use it 4-5 times in the same sentence. It is just a pause filler in the context you mentioned. ね can be used in this way, and people annoyingly use ですね like this too. If you use these sparingly like you would 'like', 'y'know', 'err' etc in English, then you won't sound annoying, but that's just my opinion, I guess.

[John_nato]

Ok. Is there ever a situation where it would be good to use this word?

[Kat]

Hi John, thanks for posting!

さ　in and of itself is neither "good" nor "bad", but functions more like a meaningless filler word (like "like" or "y'know" in English), and so as Javizy said, over-using it can sound just as irritating as listening to someone say "like" every second word. Hands-down the most annoying usage has to be something like this: あたしさぁ、昨日さぁ、学校に行ったんだけどさぁ... "Like, yesterday I like, went to school, and like..."

But if you're looking for a non-irritating way of using it, I'll sometimes use it in an upward tone at the end of the sentence, cut short, in a kind of joking way. For example:

あたし頭いいからさ！
"Because I'm just so clever!"

You can also use an extended さぁ with an optional ね　to mean "Who knows?" as a response to a question. For example:

彼、超金持ちじゃない？
さぁね！
"He must be super-rich!"
"Who knows?"

Hope this helps!


Kat
JapanesePod101.com Team Member