Learn about Japanese sentence-final particles
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are the sentence-final particles in Japanese? |
| Risa: And how are they used? |
| Michael: At JapanesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ai Nakamura is shopping with her daughter, Nana. Ai points out a cute bracelet to Nana and says, |
| "Look! It's cute." |
| Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| Dialogue |
| Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| Nana Nakamura: 本当だ。かわいいね！ (Hontō da. Kawaii ne!) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| Michael: "Look! It's cute." |
| Nana Nakamura: 本当だ。かわいいね！ (Hontō da. Kawaii ne!) |
| Michael: "True! It's cute!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: You've probably noticed the particles at the end of each sentence. These are called |
| Risa: 終助詞 (shūjoshi), |
| Michael: or sentence-final particles, and they're used to modulate the meaning of a sentence. |
| Risa: Today, we will introduce you to some of the most common of these particles. |
| Michael: Let's start by examining their function in the dialogue. Recall how Ai Nakamura said, "Look! It's cute." |
| Risa as Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| Michael: Here, she uses the sentence-final particle |
| Risa: よ (yo) |
| Michael: to draw her daughter's attention. This particle is sometimes used as an exclamation mark, but here it's used to provide new information to the listener. By using this particle, Ai implies her belief that Nana hasn't noticed the bracelet, and thus she points it out to her. |
| Risa: The particle よ (yo) can also be used in commands or invitations. For example, もっと頑張ってよ！ (Motto ganbatte yo!) |
| Michael: which means "Try harder!" |
| Risa: or 一緒に行きましょうよ。 (Issho ni ikimashō yo.) |
| Michael: which means "Come on, let's go together." |
| Michael: Now, recall how Nana replied, "True! It's cute!" |
| Risa as Nana Nakamura: 本当だ。かわいいね！ (Hontō da. Kawaii ne!) |
| Michael: Here, Nana used the particle |
| Risa: ね (ne) |
| Michael: to show that she agrees with her mom. This particle is usually used to show agreement, as was done in this dialogue. Note that in cases like these, the particle is pronounced with a falling tone. The particle can also, however, be used to seek confirmation, in which case, it will be said with a rising tone. As an example, consider the sentence |
| Risa: 行きますね。 (Ikimasu ne.) |
| Michael: meaning "[You] are going, aren't you?" You can also use both yo and ne together, as in |
| Risa: 今日は寒いよね。 (Kyō wa samui yo ne.) |
| Michael: "Today is cold, isn't it." The combination |
| Risa: よね (yo ne) |
| Michael: is used for seeking confirmation or making sure that something is the way you believe. |
| Michael: To summarize, the particle yo is used as an exclamation mark, as in |
| Risa: これは高いですよ。 (Kore wa takai desu yo.) |
| Michael: "This is expensive!" It can also be used to inform the listener about something that the speaker thinks the listener doesn't know, as in |
| Risa: これはおいしいですよ。 (Kore wa oishii desu yo.) |
| Michael: "This is delicious!" Here, we assume that the listener isn't eating the same thing or hasn't tried it yet. You can also use the particle yo when giving commands, like in |
| Risa: ちょっと急いでよ。 (Chotto isoide yo.) |
| Michael: "Come on, hurry up a bit." Lastly, you can use the particle yo when inviting someone to do something together, as in |
| Risa: 海へ行きましょうよ。 (Umi e ikimashō yo.) |
| Michael: "Let's go to the beach!" or, literally, "Let's go to the sea!." In contrast to the particle yo, we use the particle ne when seeking confirmation, like in |
| Risa: これ、おいしいね。 (Kore, oishii ne.) |
| Michael: "This is delicious, don't you think?" Here, we assume that both the speaker and the listener are eating the same thing. The speaker states their opinion and is waiting for confirmation from the listener, who may then say something like |
| Risa: うん、おいしいね。 (Un, oishii ne.) |
| Michael: "Yeah, it's delicious." In this sentence, we see the second usage of the particle ne, which is to give confirmation. Notice how the intonation changes. Recall the previous example, |
| Risa: これ、おいしいね。 (Kore, oishii ne.) |
| Michael: This was said with a rising tone for seeking confirmation. The following example, |
| Risa: うん、おいしいね。 (Un, oishii ne.) |
| Michael: however, is said with a falling tone for giving confirmation. Lastly, we can also use these particles together, always in the same order: first yo followed by ne. When combined together, the two particles are used as a slightly more emphatic way of seeking confirmation, like in |
| Risa: これ、かわいいよね。 (Kore, kawaii yo ne.) |
| Michael: "This is cute, isn't it?" Now, let's look at some additional sentence-final particles. The first one we will discuss is |
| Risa: か (ka). |
| Michael: You are likely already familiar with this one. It is used in order to form questions, but it is sometimes omitted in spoken Japanese, especially if the sentence is informal. Here is an example sentence: |
| Risa: どこへ行きますか。 (Doko e ikimasu ka.) |
| Michael: "Where are you going?" |
| Risa: The next particle we will talk about is the particle の (no). |
| Michael: You may already know it as a possessive particle, but it can also appear at the end of a sentence. When used at the end of a sentence, the particle no has a very similar meaning to the particle ka. It's used to make an emphatic question, often expressing a speakers' surprise or reconfirmation. As an example, one could say |
| Risa: ほんとにいいの？(Honto ni ii no?) |
| Michael: "Is it really OK?" or |
| Risa: こんな時間にどこ行くの？ (Konna jikan ni doko iku no?) |
| Michael: "Where are you going at this hour?" Note that to use this particle like this requires the sentence to be informal, so you would not use it with polite verb forms like ikimasu, meaning "to go." |
| Risa: Moving on, the next particle we will cover is the particle ぞ (zo). |
| Michael: This particle emphasises the message. In this way it's similar to the exclamatory usage of the particle yo, but it's stronger and is more often used by male speakers than by female speakers. It's also often used when shouting or yelling something. Here's an example: |
| Risa: 危ないぞ！ (Abunai zo!) |
| Micheal: "[It's] dangerous!" |
| Risa: The last, final-particle we will talk about is the particle な (na). |
| Michael: This particle is used to express a very strict, direct, and sometimes rude, prohibition. You can sometimes see it used on signs which say things like "Don't run!" or |
| Risa: 走るな。 (Hashiru na.) |
| Michael: It can also be used for strongly saying things like "Don't tell anyone!" |
| Risa: 誰にも話すな。 (Dare ni mo hanasu na.) |
| Michael: Note that as a prohibition, it always follows the informal form of a verb. |
| Risa: However, な (na), or the longer version なあ (nā), can also be used to show personal emotions. |
| Michael: As an example, take the sentence |
| Risa: ちょっと寂しいなあ。 (Chotto sabishii nā.) |
| Michael: "Oh, I'm a bit lonely." Unlike before, the particle is being used here for showing the speaker's emotions. |
| Risa: Additionally, the particles な (na) or なあ (nā) can be also used to seek confirmation, especially by male speakers. |
| Michael: In this case, the usage is very similar to particle ね (ne) but it is rather informal and it is used less frequently. |
| Risa: For example, you can say 今日は寒いなあ。 (Kyō wa samui nā.) |
| Michael: "It's cold today, right?" Here, the speaker feels cold and says that to seek confirmation from their friends. |
| Risa: OK, let's review: Today, we learned sentence-final particles よ (yo), ね (ne), か (ka), ぞ (zo), and な (na). |
| Michael: These are not all the sentence-final particles in Japanese. We aimed at covering only the most common ones and their most common usages. Don't worry about memorizing them all at once. If you are a beginner or lower intermediate student, then you should focus on knowing and understanding the first three particles, |
| Risa: よ (yo), ね (ne), and か (ka). |
| Michael: Everything else will come with time. |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sample conversation: Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud, and then listen carefully as Risa models the correct answer. Repeat after her, with the focus on your pronunciation. Are you ready? |
| How do you say, "Look! It's cute." |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. Remember to focus on your pronunciation. |
| Risa as Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Ai Nakamura: 見て！これかわいいよ。 (Mite! Kore kawaii yo.) |
| Michael: Let's move on to the second sentence. How do you say, "True! It's cute!" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Nana Nakamura: 本当だ。かわいいね！ (Hontō da. Kawaii ne!) |
| Michael: Did you get it right this time? Listen again and repeat. |
| Risa as Nana Nakamura: 本当だ。かわいいね！ (Hontō da. Kawaii ne!) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Risa as Nana Nakamura: 本当だ。かわいいね！ (Hontō da. Kawaii ne!) |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Risa: またね！ (Mata-ne!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide