Sentence Endings

Introduction

Beyond basic sentence particles, intermediate Japanese offers a rich set of sentence endings that express obligation, permission, prohibition, and judgement.

These patterns are crucial for polite requests, rules, and expressing your opinions.

Themes

All Japanese Grammar Intermediate in This Chapter (16)

1. ～なあ (exclamatory particle) なあ A sentence-final particle used in informal male speech to express strong emotion such as admiration, longing, or deep feeling. It adds an...
2. ～かな (I wonder) かな A sentence-final particle that indicates a self-addressed question or a softened question directed at others. It expresses wondering, unc...
3. ～ぞ (emphatic particle) ぞ A sentence-final particle used in informal male speech to strongly emphasise the speaker's emotion, determination, or assertion. It adds ...
4. ～さ (casual assertion) さ A sentence-final particle used in highly informal speech, primarily by male speakers, to express casual assertion, explanation, or to dow...
5. ～のに (despite / although) のに A sentence-final particle that expresses the speaker's feeling of great regret, dissatisfaction, or frustration about an outcome that con...
6. ～（の）上で (after doing / upon) うえで A compound particle used to express that one action serves as a necessary preparation or prerequisite before undertaking a subsequent, re...
7. ～（の）代わりに (instead of / in exchange for) かわりに A compound particle expressing that one action or state is balanced or compensated by another. It can mean 'instead of,' 'in place of,' o...
8. ～ては (if... then [negative]) ては A conjunction that presents an action or state as a topic about which a negative comment, consequence, or judgment follows. It expresses ...
9. こうした (this kind of) こうした A demonstrative adjective meaning 'this kind of' or 'such,' used to refer back to something already mentioned or exemplified in the conve...
10. 例の (the ... in question) れいの A pre-noun phrase meaning 'the ... in question' or 'that ... we talked about,' used to signal that the noun it modifies is something both...
11. なしでは (without) なしでは A compound particle meaning 'without,' used to express that something cannot be accomplished or a situation cannot exist if a particular ...
12. ～目 (ordinal suffix) め A suffix attached to counters or numbers to indicate ordinal position, turning a cardinal number into 'the Nth.' For example, 三つ目 means '...
13. には (in order to) には A compound particle combining に and は, used to express a purpose or condition needed to achieve something. It conveys 'in order to do X' ...
14. で (per / for each) で A particle indicating a rate, unit price, or quantity basis — 'per,' 'for,' or 'at the rate of.' It specifies how much of something corre...
15. Relative Clause (noun modification) かんけいせつ A clause placed before a noun to describe or identify it, functioning like English relative clauses ('the book that I bought,' 'the perso...
16. Rhetorical Question (反語) はんご A question that functions as a forceful statement with no expected response. The speaker uses question form to emphatically assert the op...