Structure
さあ + Phrase
(1) さ、さぁ、さあ、さー
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About さ - Interjection
さ is a 感動詞 (interjection) in Japanese that has three primary uses. These are as follows:
誘い、促し - To invite, incite, or draw attention to something.
驚き、当惑し - To express surprise, confusion, or bewilderment.
話の流れを抑える - To control or keep in check the flow of a conversation.
In this lesson, we will be focusing on the first meaning (to invite or draw attention). In English, this is usually translated as 'there we go', 'ok then', or 'well you see'. さ (or sometimes さあ) will come at the beginning of a sentence, before the point that the speaker would like to highlight is explained.
Caution
This さ and the さ used for expressing confusion or bewilderment are often used interchangeably. When drawing attention, it comes across like 'well you see', but when expressing confusion, it is closer to 'well let me see'. The latter has a slight nuance of 'let me think about my answer first'.
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Examples
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「さあ、仕事を始めよう。」
'Alright, let's start working!'
「さあ、行きましょう。」
'Alright, let's go!'
「あの人、誰？」
「さあ…」
'Who is that person?'
'Well… '
「足は（どう）？」
「大丈夫よ。さあ早く…」
'(How is) your leg?'
'It is ok. Now, quickly (keep moving)…'
「さ、早く乗ってください。」
「うん。」
'Alright, now quickly get on.'
'Yeah.'
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What does さあ mean?
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Tobira
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さ - Interjection – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (4 in total)
Pushindawood
all right
there we go
now・you see
well (I don’t know
let me see)Structure
- さ / さぁ / さあ / さー + Phrase
Generally the lengthened “さあ” is used more often than the shorter “さ”
[Used when asking/inviting the listener to do something, or when troubled/surprised/confused about how to answer when asked something]
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musera
In the example sentence:
足は（どう）？
大丈夫よ。さあ早く…Why is どう in brackets? I get that normally means its optional or implied but it just feels to me that it’d be hard to understand context unless you were visually indicating the leg or an injury has just occurred. Not missing anything am I?
nekoyama
An injury or some other problem (like being tired) is what I’d automatically assume from a question like “足は？” even without the context telling me that the answer is 大丈夫 and not something like ２本ありますよ. To me the dialog without the どう reads like an exchange in an anime where the party is running away from something, and the hero is trying to downplay an injured leg.
musera
Admittedly most my native materials are anime, manga and games. So I know my exposure isn’t great.
From my skewed experiences, どう is often said even when context allows it to be left out. Was left with the impression that is was natural to say it, maybe I’m way off though and will be laughed at by natives in the future.
Daru
@nekoyama @musera
Adding どう？ definietly emphazises any request for information. It becomes further emphazised with だ・です. For example:ケーキは？ How’s the cake?
ケーキはどう？ Hows the cake? [Did you like the cake?]
ケーキはどうだ？ How’s the cake? [HEY. I really need to know whether or not you liked the cake.]Source: a Japanese friend of mine told me I was being too intense with my request for confirmation on how good something I cooked was
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