Advanced Sentence Ending Particles な, なあ, っけ, わ, ぞ, and さ

Last time, you learned how Japanese prefixes and suffixes work, e.g. "ビジネス上じょう、外国がいこく語ごを話はなせることは便べん利りだ (it's useful to be able to speak foreign languages from a business point of view)." In this lesson, you will learn a similar concept again, which is to express additional meanings by placing something at the end. That's sentence ending particles.

Explanation for the Usage of な, なあ, っけ, わ, and ぞ

In the basic grammar section, you already learned the three sentence ending particles よ, ね, and よね. The ones that we will introduce here have the same characteristics. That is to say, they appear only in conversation and sound casual, but they are significant to making natural expressions. Let's check each usage one by one. Note: English translations don’t make much sense here. Please focus on the original functions.

Sentence Ending Particle な

な has almost the same functions as the sentence ending particle ね, which are to seek the listeners’ agreement (*the first example), to seek the listeners’ confirmation (*the second example), to imply the speakers’ consideration (*the third example), and to emphasize the speakers’ denial (*the fourth example). The difference between them is that な is generally used by MALEs and may make your speech a little offensive. The polite form doesn’t generally appear in this context except for when the elderly use な.

Sentence Ending Particle なあ

In general, you use なあ when you talk to yourself. Thus, the polite form doesn't appear here. なあ has two functions. The first is to indicate that you have discovered something. The second is to emotionally say something when you look back on the past.

The あ is sometimes omitted. Try not to be confused with the sentence ending particle な. You need to judge which function な works as based on the context.

Sentence Ending Particle っけ

The function is to indicate that you are not sure about your memory. For example, with the first example, っけ implies that you have asked before, but you forget his/her name. That is to say, you can only use っけ to things you should’ve known. っけ is generally used with expressions which indicate the past such as the ta-form and ことがある.

Sentence Ending Particle わ

It is said that women customarily add わ at the end of sentences without a particular meaning. However, the younger generation doesn't do so today. We guess that you hear this expression only in manga (*Some dialects use わ at the end of sentences, but it’s different from this わ). The point of the usage is that you can use わ together with よ, ね, or よね at the same time.

Sentence Ending Particle ぞ

This is a masculine expression and emphasizes the speaker’s will or opinion. When you use ぞ to listeners, your speech sounds like an invitation, e.g. “let’s.” However, it may sound commanding when compared with the volitional form like 勉強しよう. In manga, you may hear a combination between the polite form and ぞ like 勉強しますぞ. Practically speaking, the polite form should not be used with ぞ, which sounds weird.

ぜ is a similar masculine sentence ending particle. But, this is not used in practice today. We have introduced this to you because you may still see this in manga.

Sentence Ending Particle さ

さ has been a uncommon word gradually, but let us explain the usage for the sake of completion. There are three functions. The first is to emphasize your statement or opinion (*the first example), the second is to lightly say something which may sound irresponsible (*the second example), and the third is to imply that you are refuting something (*the third example).

Filler Words

な, さ and ね often appear as a filler word. They don’t have a particular meaning. Although filler words make your speech natural, you should avoid using them too much.

Summary

1. な has almost the same function as ね.
   • to seek the listeners’ agreement
   • to seek the listeners’ confirmation
   • to imply the speakers’ consideration
   • to emphasize the speakers’ denial
2. なあ is used to talk to yourself and has two functions.
   • to indicate that you have discovered something
   • to emotionally say something when you look back on the past
3. っけ indicates that you are not sure about your memory.
4. Women (used to) customarily place わ without a particular meaning.
5. ぞ is a masculine expression and emphasize speaker’s will or opinion.
6. さ is not a common word today, but has three functions.
   • to emphasis your statement or opinion
   • to lightly say something which may sound irresponsible
   • to imply that you are refuting something

Sentence ending particles tend to get affected by people’s habits, coinages, and dialects which make them difficult to learn. As of today, ones that you have to master are な, なあ, and っけ along with the basic ones: よ, ね, and よね. They are frequently used in everyday life. There are still other expressions placed at the end of sentences. We will pick them up in the next section: advanced sentence patterns.