Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 2: 2/12

Emphasis (Sentence ending particle)

Used when conveying new information to the listener

Structure

Sentence +

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Word Type

    Sentence Ending Particle

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    Standard

About よ

is classified as a sentence ending particle in Japanese. In most cases, it is used to convey new information to the listener, or just to add a bit of emphasis. Like most sentence ending particles, it is simply added to the end of almost any sentence.

Despite the standard use of being to convey new information, it is also very regularly paired with , to convey the meaning of 'right?!'. This more literally means something closer to 'I think (A), and I bet you think (A) too!'.

Caution

Did you notice that there is a after the noun, but not the い-Adjective? This is not a unique rule for , but just one of the regular conjugation rules introduced in the lessons for い-Adjectives and な-Adjectives. It is also acceptable to use です after either type of adjective (or noun).

Examples

--:--

    トム(あし)(はや)

    Tom has fast feet. (Tom is a fast runner)

    (わたし)()(たか)

    I am tall.

    野球(やきゅう)(たの)

    Baseball is fun.

    これケーキ

    This is a cake.

    それいい

    That is good.

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      よ – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (5 in total)

      • mrnoone

        mrnoone

        @GregX999
        Like @nekoyama says, を can indicate the location where motion begins and can also mark a movement through some area.

        から can be also used, but if the goal/destination of motion is stated, から is better than を.

        Example:

        家を出る
        to leave house

        空を飛ぶ
        to fly through the sky.

      • xuzab

        xuzab

        In response to someone who asked, 今日、何曜日ですか, wouldn’t it be kind of rude to say, 今日は水曜日ですよ? I know that it’s “new information,” but for some reason have the impression that in this case, it’d be sort of presumptuous to present it as such. More generally, when should one refrain from using よ?

      • nekoyama

        nekoyama

        I think this situation is one of the least rude ways to use よ, assuming the question is sincere and the person asking really doesn’t know the answer. よ expresses that the speaker has more knowledge or authority. It’s easy to interpret that as presumptuous, but another way to look at it is that in this sentence the よ emphasises that the speaker actually knows what they’re talking about. When answering a request for information, that’s a good thing.

        I find that when よ is rude, it’s often not directly because of the “new information” nuance. Of course that’s possible too, but but it’s much easier to be rude with よ in other ways. For example, let’s say we get used to agreeing to propositions from friends by saying something like いいよ. Then, one day, our boss asks us to do something and we reply いいですよ - acting as if we actually had a say in which requests from our boss we accept. (The correct answer would be something like わかりました. We do not answer requests from the boss from a poin...

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