Japanese/Grammar/Sentence ending particles
< Japanese < GrammarThe sentence ending particles (終助詞, しゅうじょし) are placed, unsurprisingly, at the end of sentences and apply to it as a whole. These include for example the question marker, か, and a host of others that express the speaker's emotions. Those emotion-indicating particles don't have any grammatical meaning, and, thus, used mostly in speech.
か (interrogative)
Question mark, used to indicate the sentence is a question. Note that か replaces だ instead of appearing after it, so you can either omit the copula at all, or use a full form (で ある).
| あのひと は だれ です か？ | Who is that man? |
| たなかさん は せんせい です か？ | Is Mr. Tanaka a teacher? |
The particle may also follow question pronouns with the meaning of some as in someone:
| だれ か | somebody |
| どこ か | somewhere |
の (emphatic interrogative)
An emphatic question mark:
| いい の？ | Is it okay? |
| どこに行くの? | Where are we going? |
ね (emphasis and confirmation)
Polite and expresses
- the speaker's desire to receive confirmation (rising intonation), or
- the speaker's agreement (falling intonation).
Often translated as "isn't it so", "don't you think so" or "don't you agree with me". Also used as a polite or friendly sentence ending. Some people end virtually every sentence with "ね".
| それ は むずかしい ね。↑ | It's difficult, isn't it? |
| それ は むずかしい ね。↓ | That sure is difficult. |
| たなかさん は すごい ひと だ ね...↓ | Mr. Tanaka is a great guy... |
Also works as "phrase softener", i.e., it makes the phrase sound softer. Lengthening the syllable makes it more emphatic. The lengthening is usually indicated with a tilde:
| きれい だ ね~↓ | It's so beautiful! |
よ (emphasis)
Used when providing new information with emphasis, or like an exclamation mark, especially for commands:
| わかる よ | I understand. |
ぞ (emphasis)
Similar to よ but more masculine.
| いく ぞ | I'm going. |
な (opinion)
Informal, used when emphasizing an opinion. Male speakers tend to prefer using "な" instead of "ね".
| たなか は ばか だ な... | Tanaka's a fool... |
| さむい なあ | It's so cold. |
なあ also has other, polite, uses (to express deep thinking or rhetoric questions)
な (prohibition)
な can indicate prohibition when placed after verbs. In direct speech, this sounds rude and angry.
| いく な！ | Don't go! |
| みる な！ | Don't look! |
かな, かしら (uncertainty)
Indicate that speaker is not sure about something. かしら is used mostly by women.
| どこ に ある の かな | I wonder, where was it? |
ぜ (agreement)
Expresses agreement, used only by men in conversations . Also sometimes used as a vulgar よ.
| おい、にげる ぜ | Hey, I'm getting out of here! |
わ (agreement)
Like よ but softer. Used by women, but also by men in some parts of Japan.
| あした行くわ。 | I will go tomorrow. |
さ (emphasis)
Filler particle, used to emphasize the sentence (unlike よ, not implying any command or new information is communicated):
| あの さ | hey |