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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jessi: We Agree...We Have Strong Feelings About Japanese Particles Ne, Yo, Wa, Ze, and Zo! |
| Naomi: こんにちは。なおみです。(Kon’nichiwa. Naomi desu.) |
| Jessi: Jessi here. In the previous lesson, you learned about double particles using は (wa) and も (mo). Can we hear an example? |
| Naomi: ここではタバコをすわないでください。(Koko de wa tabako o suwanaide kudasai.) |
| Jessi: Please don’t smoke here. |
| Naomi: 母とも話しました。(Haha to mo hanashimashita.) |
| Jessi: I also spoke with my mother. |
| Jessi: So what particles are we covering in this lesson? |
| Naomi: In this lesson, you'll learn sentence ending particles such as ね (ne), よ (yo), わ (wa), ぜ (ze) and ぞ (zo). |
| Jessi: This lesson’s conversation is between three people, right ? |
| Naomi: そうですね。田中明さん。(Sō desu ne. Tanaka Akira-san.) “Akira Tanaka”, 生徒 (seito) “a student” and 生徒の親 (seito no oya) “the student’s parent.” |
| Jessi: In the previous episode, the student’s parent was looking for her child, who is the student. It looks like they finally found him. OK, so let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 田中明:そうか。じゃ、空港で 飛行機を 見ていたんだね。(Sō ka. Ja, kūkō de hikōki o mite ita n da ne.) |
| :心配したんだぜ。(Shinpai shita n da ze.) |
| 生徒:はい。すみません。(Hai. Sumimasen.) |
| 生徒の親:お母さん、心配したわ。(O-kā-san, shinpai shita wa.) |
| 生徒:もう、勉強したくなかったんだよ。(Mō, benkyō shitakunakatta n da yo.) |
| 生徒の親:・・・お母さん、悪かったわ。(... O-kā-san, warukatta wa.) |
| :いつも「勉強、勉強」言って。(Itsumo ‘benkyō, benkyō’ itte.) |
| 生徒:母さんは 悪くないよ。・・・ごめんなさい。(Kā-san wa warukunai yo… Gomen nasai.) |
| 田中明:ま、無事で よかったよ。さ、帰るぞ。(Ma, buji de yokatta yo. Sa, kaeru zo.) |
| 生徒:はい。(Hai.) |
| もう一度お願いします。今度はゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do onegai shimasu. Kondo wa yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| 田中明:そうか。じゃ、空港で 飛行機を 見ていたんだね。(Sō ka. Ja, kūkō de hikōki o mite ita n da ne.) |
| :心配したんだぜ。 (Shinpai shita n da ze.) |
| 生徒:はい。すみません。(Hai. Sumimasen.) |
| 生徒の親:お母さん、心配したわ。(O-kā-san, shinpai shita wa.) |
| 生徒:もう、勉強したくなかったんだよ。(Mō, benkyō shitakunakatta n da yo.) |
| 生徒の親:・・・お母さん、悪かったわ。(... O-kā-san, warukatta wa.) |
| :いつも「勉強、勉強」言って。(Itsumo ‘benkyō, benkyō’ itte.) |
| 生徒:母さんは 悪くないよ。・・・ごめんなさい。(Kā-san wa warukunai yo… Gomen nasai.) |
| 田中明:ま、無事で よかったよ。さ、帰るぞ。(Ma, buji de yokatta yo. Sa, kaeru zo.) |
| 生徒:はい。(Hai.) |
| 今度は英語が入ります。(Kondo wa Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| 田中明:そうか。じゃ、空港で 飛行機を 見ていたんだね。(Sō ka. Ja, kūkō de hikōki o mite ita n da ne.) |
| Jessi: I see. So, you were at the airport watching the planes. |
| : 心配したんだぜ。(Shinpai shita n da ze.) |
| Jessi: We were worried about you. |
| 生徒:はい。すみません。(Hai. Sumimasen.) |
| Jessi: I'm sorry. |
| 生徒の親:お母さん、心配したわ。(O-kā-san, shinpai shita wa.) |
| Jessi: I was so worried!! |
| 生徒:もう、勉強したくなかったんだよ。(Mō, benkyō shitakunakatta n da yo.) |
| Jessi: I just didn't want to study anymore. |
| 生徒の親:・・・お母さん、悪かったわ。(... O-kā-san, warukatta wa.) |
| Jessi: It's my fault. |
| : いつも「勉強、勉強」言って。(Itsumo ‘benkyō, benkyō’ itte.) |
| Jessi: I kept telling you to "study, study!" |
| 生徒:母さんは 悪くないよ。・・・ごめんなさい。(Kā-san wa warukunai yo… Gomen nasai.) |
| Jessi: It's not your fault. I'm sorry. |
| 田中明:ま、無事で よかったよ。さ、帰るぞ。(Ma, buji de yokatta yo. Sa, kaeru zo.) |
| Jessi: Well, we're glad you're safe. C'mon, we're going home. |
| 生徒:はい。(Hai.) |
| Jessi: Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jessi: Oh, is he the same boy who was trying to go to the airport in lesson 5? |
| Naomi: そうです、そうです。(Sō desu, sō desu.) Ｒight. In Lesson 5 the boy said 飛行機を見に行きます。(Hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) “I’m going to go to see airplanes.” He said to the station clerk 飛行機を見に行きます。(Hikōki o mi ni ikimasu.) “I’m going to go to see airplanes.” |
| Jessi: So maybe he was feeling stressed out from studying hard everyday? |
| Naomi: 多分ね。(Tabun ne.) Maybe. What do you usually do when you feel stressed out? |
| Jessi: When I feel stressed out.. hmm… 買い物に行きます！(Kaimono ni ikimasu!) |
| Naomi: 買い物ね。(Kaimono ne.) |
| Jessi: I go shopping… and maybe buy myself something nice. Maybe it’s not the best habit for relieving stress, but… (笑) How about you, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: わたしは食べます。寝ます。 (Watashi wa tabemasu. Nemasu.) And that’s all! |
| Jessi: Oh… That sounds like a good way too, though! (笑) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jessi: In this lesson and the following lesson, you'll learn some particles that attach to the end of a sentence to indicate the speaker's feelings and tone. Japanese has a lot of these particles that come at the end. |
| Naomi: Yes, it does! In this lesson, you'll learn the sentence ending particles ne, yo, wa, ze and zo. Let’s start with the particle ね (ne). |
| Jessi: ね (ne) seeks agreement or confirmation from the listener. It’s like a tag question in English, such as "isn't it?", "doesn't it?" |
| Naomi: "aren't you?", "don't you?" |
| Jessi: and so on. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) For example, 今日は寒い。(Kyō wa saumi.) is…? |
| Jessi: “It’s cold today.” |
| Naomi: It’s just a statement. But when you say 今日は寒いね。(Kyō wa samui ne.) |
| Jessi “It’s cold today, isn’t it?” |
| Naomi: This phrase is asking for agreement. Like “Right?” or “don’t you think so?” in English. |
| Jessi: Exactly. ね (ne) is also used to soften a request, to make it sound nicer. |
| Naomi: Right. そうですね。レッスンノートを読んでくださいね。(Sō desu ne. Ressun Nōto o yonde kudasai ne.) or レッスンノートを読んでね。(Ressun Nōto o yonde ne.) |
| Jessi: “Please read the lesson notes.” |
| And then when the vowel in ね (ne) is prolonged, it expresses the speaker's feelings of excitement. In other words, ねぇ (nee) creates an exclamation. |
| Naomi: Ah, exclamation mark. |
| Jessi: Right, kind of like an exclamation mark. |
| Naomi: For example, うわ～。これ、おいしいねぇ。(Uwā. Kore, oishii nee.) |
| Jessi: “Wow. This is really delicious!” I heard that ね (ne) makes it sound a little feminine. Is this true? |
| Naomi: Well, it really depends on how you say it and it also depends on the area you grow up. In Kansai, the western part of Japan, quite a few people think ね (ne) is feminine. But in the Tokyo area, a lot of men use ね (ne) at the end of sentences. But even so, if you overuse it, it may sound a bit feminine. |
| Jessi: Ah, OK. So maybe some of our male listeners should be careful not to overuse it too much. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Jessi: Now on to the next particle よ (yo). |
| The particle よ (yo) expresses the speaker's strong conviction or assertion about something that it is assumed that the listener doesn't know. It’s similar to "I tell you" or "you know" in English. You’re telling the listener something they don’t know. |
| Naomi: そうですよ～。(笑) (Sō desu yō.) |
| Jessi: Naomi-sensei and I are going to read a two line dialogue, so please listen for how ね (ne) and よ (yo) are used. |
| なおみさん、今日は月曜日ですね。(Naomi-san, kyō wa getsu-yōbi desu ne.) |
| Naomi: 違いますよ。火曜日ですよ。(Chigaimasu yo. Ka-yōbi desu yo.) |
| Jessi: So let’s hear that once again. なおみさん、今日は月曜日ですね。(Naomi-san, kyō wa getsu-yōbi desu ne.) ”Naomi, today is Monday, isn’t it.” |
| Naomi: 違いますよ。(Chigaimasu yo.) “No, it’s not.” 火曜日ですよ。(Ka-yōbi desu yo.) “It’s Tuesday, you know.” |
| Jessi: I thought that it was Monday today but Naomi knew that I was wrong and it was Tuesday, so she put よ (yo) at the end of the sentences. |
| Naomi: そうですよ。(Sō desu yo.) And you can add よ (yo) after requests. Like レッスンノートを読んでくださいよ。(Ressun Nōto o yonde kudasai yo.) |
| Jessi: Okay, but Naomi-sensei, we just mentioned that ね (ne) can come at the end of the request too, so, what’s the difference in this case? |
| Naomi: Well, ね (ne) is used to soften the request. But よ (yo) doesn’t soften the request. It does the opposite – instead, it emphasizes the request. So a request with よ (yo) sounds pretty strong. |
| Jessi: I see. So 読んでくださいよ (yonde kudasai yo) is much stronger than 読んでくださいね (yonde kudasai ne). |
| Naomi: そうです。そうですよ。(Sō desu. Sō desu yo.) Right. |
| Jessi: Speaking of ね (ne) and よ (yo) … these two particles are used together a lot, right? ね (ne) can come after the particle よ(yo), as in よね (yo ne)? |
| Naomi: そうですよね (sō desu yo ne), like this? |
| Jessi: Right, exactly. (笑) |
| Naomi: ね (ne) is used to seek confirmation and よ (yo) indicates assertion, so a sentence that ends in よね (yo ne) means "I assert that..., but don't you agree?" or "I assert that..., but am I right?" |
| Jessi: Can we have a sample sentence? |
| Naomi: Sure. 会議は3時からですよね。(Kaigi wa san-ji kara desu yo ne.) |
| Jessi: In this sentence, it’s like… I’m saying that the meeting is from 3 o'clock, but am I right? |
| Naomi: そうです。(Sō desu.) |
| Jessi: In natural English, this would just become “The meeting is at 3, isn't it?” The 3 particles we’re going to introduce next are usually used by either men or women, meaning they sound either very feminine or very masculine, so please be careful when you use them. |
| Naomi: Let’s start with わ (wa). |
| Jessi: The particle わ (wa) expresses a weak assertion, desire, intent emotion and so on. It is usually used by female speakers. |
| Naomi: これ、おいしいわ～。(Kore, oishii wā.) |
| Jessi: Wow. This is delicious! |
| Naomi: It sounds very feminine. I rarely use it. My mother uses it a lot. |
| Jessi: And please note that this sentence ending わ (wa) is spelled differently from the topic marking particle は (wa). The pronunciation is the same but the hiragana used is different. You can see what they look like in the Lesson Notes. |
| Naomi: そうですね。レッスンノートを見てください。(Sō desu ne. Ressun Nōto o mite kudasai.) OK. The next particle we’re looking at is ぜ (ze). |
| Jessi: The particle ぜ (ze) is used by male speakers in informal speech to add force and emphasis to a sentence. It’s often used to make a declaration. |
| Naomi: 頑張るぜ。(Ganbaru ze.) “I'm going to give it my best shot.” |
| Jessi: And lastly we have? |
| Naomi: ぞ (zo) |
| Jessi: The particle ぞ (zo) is also used by male speakers, and it’s in informal speech to add force to a sentence. Like よ (yo), it’s similar to "I tell you" or "you know" in English. |
| Naomi: And it’s said that ぞ (zo) has a somewhat stronger connotation than ぜ (ze). |
| Jessi: Right. And please note that both ぞ (zo) and ぜ (ze) are informal expressions so they cannot be used with formal speech. Can we hear a sample sentence for ぞ (zo)? |
| Naomi: 帰るぞ。(Kaeru zo.) |
| Jessi: “C’mon, we’re going home.” |
| Naomi: あ、c’monっていう感じ！(A, “c’mon” tte iu kanji!) |
| Jessi: そうですね！(Sō desu ne!) In this lesson we went over sentence ending particles. |
| Now it’s time to recap this lesson with a quiz. |
| I’m going to read an English sentence, and your job is to choose the best Japanese translation from the choices provided. Are you ready? |
| Here’s the sentence. “This is a fish, right?” The choices are... |
| Naomi: 1. これは魚ですよ。(Kore wa sakana desu yo.) |
| 2. これは魚ですわ。(Kore wa sakana desu wa.) |
| 3. これは魚ですね。(Kore wa sakana desu ne.) |
| Jessi: And the answer is? |
| Naomi: 3. これは魚ですね。(Kore wa sakana desu ne.) |
| Jessi: So do you remember? ね (ne) is like an English tag question. So now let’s go over other choices. How about Choice 1 |
| Naomi: これは魚ですよ。(Kore wa sakana desu yo.) “This is a fish, you know.” |
| Jessi: よ (yo) indicates the speaker’s assertion – you’re telling the listener something they don’t know. |
| And choice 2 is? |
| Naomi: これは魚ですわ。(Kore wa sakana desu wa.) It means ”It’s a fish.” but it sounds very feminine. |
| Jessi: Right. Particle わ (wa) expresses a weak assertion, desire, intended emotion and so on. It is usually used by female speakers. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) OK. So that’s all for this lesson. それじゃまたね。(Soreja mata ne.) |
| Jessi: See you next time. |
| DIALOGUE |
| 田中明:そうか。じゃ、空港で 飛行機を 見ていたんだね。(Sō ka. Ja, kūkō de hikōki o mite ita n da ne.) |
| :心配したんだぜ。 (Shinpai shita n da ze.) |
| 生徒:はい。すみません。(Hai. Sumimasen.) |
| 生徒の親:お母さん、心配したわ。(O-kā-san, shinpai shita wa.) |
| 生徒:もう、勉強したくなかったんだよ。(Mō, benkyō shitakunakatta n da yo.) |
| 生徒の親:・・・お母さん、悪かったわ。(... O-kā-san, warukatta wa.) |
| :いつも「勉強、勉強」言って。(Itsumo ‘benkyō, benkyō’ itte.) |
| 生徒:母さんは 悪くないよ。・・・ごめんなさい。(Kā-san wa warukunai yo… Gomen nasai.) |
| 田中明:ま、無事で よかったよ。さ、帰るぞ。(Ma, buji de yokatta yo. Sa, kaeru zo.) |
| 生徒:はい。(Hai.) |
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