--- Examples ---
いいわよ。
That's just fine.
この本おもしろいわね。
This book is interesting, isn't it?
(レジで)あら、どうしよう。お財布にお金が入ってないわ。困ったわね。このにんじんは要らないわ。
(At the cash register) oh,I don't have eough money in my wallet. What
should I do? I don't take this carrot.
--- Comments ---
Not for use by blokes ;-) (contributor: Amatuka)
Placed on the end of sentences.
S = sentence. (contributor: Amatuka)
topic updated: this is mostly a feminine phrase/sentence ending, as per
miki's contribution. i (as a guy) once used it and was corrected.
(contributor: dc)
end of grammar topic (contributor: dc)
Then what is the counter part masculine form of 〜わ ? (contributor:
chaser48)
In the above examples, if you just leave out the わ they are acceptable
for men to use. In Tokyo, the only time I hear young women say this is when
they are impersonating older women or in TV dramas. Many people say womens
Japanese is becoming more like mens. My (Female) friend likes to call
herself 俺! (contributor: blabby)
Your female friend must be young like early 20s or younger. I would say she
is 口が悪い.
For mens' use, please change あら to あれ in ex4771. (contributor:
Miki)
Yes, she is not exactly a lady...
When speaking 標準語 in Tokyo, 〜わ is only used for women. But this
is not the case in some other parts of Japan. If you watch Japanese TV, you
will often see men from other parts of Japan (関西?) use わ.
(contributor: blabby)
kansai-ben and aichi-ben (because both mikawa-ben and nagoya-ben use it)
use it.
on a side note, i said わ once, and all my friends (japanese girls
obviously) said i sounded like sailor moon. actually, most owmen i
encounter say its not used much, and ive only ever heard outside from tv
once after じゃない
(contributor: shiho-chan)
A few notes from the trenches are in order. :)
Out here in Nagoya, you will hear men use 'wa' *very* rarely. It's still
an oddity such that as someone learning Japanese, you're best off just
leaving it alone.
Previous posters are right - it's not heard much from women anymore either.
When you do, it's mostly middle-aged women who are affecting an air of
sophistication; but much older than middle-aged, and 'kashira' seems much
more prevalent.
The good news for a Japanese-learner is that 'wa' is simple: You
understand that it's just flavorful emphasis, it's at the end of a sentence
so it won't throw you off, and then you never ever use it and you'll be
fine.
I don't think Miki is fully correct, though, about あれ・あら. At the
very least, it varies based on dialect and is not a universal thing. I
hear a lot of elderly men who speak Nagoya-ben and Mikawa-ben use 'Ara'
rather than 'are' - either as a drawn-out 'Araaaa..' or a quick repetition
of 'Ara-ara-ara' naturally depending on circumstance. It's not a strong
'ra' sound, though, maybe halfway between 'ara' and 'are'? Just a subtlety
thing. If you split the difference between the two, you should be fine. ;)
(contributor: televangelist)
Part of the confusion here is that there isn't just a single use for わ.
If I may borrow from an online dictionary (dictionary.goo.ne.jp)...
The two that apply here (with my translations added) are:
(1)（女性用語として）話し手の主張や決意を、表現をやわらげて軽く言い表す。
- (as feminine language) Softens presentation and expresses the speaker's
assertion, determination, etc., mildly.
ex: 「おもしろいわね」 - 'How interesting'
(2)軽い詠嘆や驚きなどの気持ちを表す。 - Expresses mild
feelings of admiration, surprise, etc.
ex: 「これは驚いたわ」 - 'This's a surprise'
Note that only the first is marked as feminine.
And to partially answer chaser48's question, 〜よ (see ) is a
gender-neutral way to add emphasis, though it's not quite equivalent, and
may even appear alongside わ as in #671. (contributor: KWhazit)
--- View this entry online ---
http://www.jgram.org/pages/viewOne.php?tagE=wa
Tags:
No comments:
Post a Comment