[Serie: All About Japanese Particles]
SENTENCE-ENDING PARTICLES
There are many sentence-ending particles in Japanese. Used commonly in the spoken language, these particles, along with the tone of voice in which they are used, help convey emotional nuances, often without actually altering in any way the explicit content of the sentence: e.g., onegai shimasu, onagai shimasu ne, and onegai shimasu yo are all similar in that they express a request, but are softened or emphasizes by the appended particle. Further more, certain sentence-ending particles are used predominantly by men, others by women. Some particles have both end-of-sentence and mid-sentence usages, such as ga, ka, kara, made, no, keredomo, no ni, kuse ni, -tara, mono o, tomo, yara.
Note: Ne is sometimes pronounced nē.
1. Indicates emotion or feelings of admiration
きれいな花ねぇ。
Kirei na hana nē.
What a pretty flower!
すばらしい演奏だったわね。
Subarashii ensō datta wa ne.
That was such a wonderful concert.
Note: here, wa indicates that a woman is speaking.
2. Indicates agreemant with the other person
本当にそうですね。
Hontō ni sō desu ne.
Yes, that’s quite true./ That’s so true.
おっしゃる通りですね。
Ossharu tōri desu ne.
Yes, it’s just as you say. / You’re quite right.
できればぜひお願いしますね。
Dekireba zehi onegai shimasu ne.
If possible, please be sure to [do it]./ If you would [do that], I’d surely appreciate it.
必ず手紙をくださいね。
Kanarazu tegami o kudasai ne.
Be sure to write [me a letter].
4. Indicates a request for confirmation.
あの本、持って来て下さったでしょうね。
Ano hon, motte kite kudasatta deshō ne.
You brought me that book, didn’t you [as I asked you to]?/ I suppose you brought that book for me.
原田さん、今日来ると言ったんですね。
Harada-san, kyō kuru to itta desu ne.
Harada said that he’d be coming today, right?/ It was today wasn’t it, that Harada said he would come.
5. Indicates a mild assertion of, or variance in, opinion.
そうですかね。
Sō desu ka ne.
Oh, is that so? / I wonder. / You think so?
本当にそんなこと起こったんでしょうかね。
Hontō ni sonna koto okotta-n deshō ka ne.
Hmm, I wonder if that’s what actually happened [if something like that really happened].
6. Indicates a mild assertion.
あの人たち、何を考えているのかわかりませんね。
Ani hitotachi, nano o kangaete iru no ka wakarimasen ne.
I just can’t understand what they’re thinking about [what’s going on in their minds].
私は北海道のほうが寒いと思うんですけどね。
Watashi wa hokkaidō no hō ga samui to omou-n desu kedo ne.
I would think that Hokkaido is colder.
– Source: All about particles – A handbook of Japanese function words –
