Now that we’re beginning to form more complex sentences it is a good time to introduce two particles that are used in practically every conversation, whether it’s two friends in a bar or a political interview: よ and ね. Now, if pushed to give a direct translation I would say that よ means “You know…” (as in the Americanism) and ね means “… isn’t it?” (as in, “That’s right, isn’t it?”). They are added at the end of the sentence to either the standard or polite form of the verbs. For nouns and na-adjectives we need to add the auxiliary verb.
- よ is used to emphasise a point or to confirm that what the speaker just said is correct. In a sense, it’s like a sort of half-exclamation mark.
- ね is used to show empathy or understanding with the other person.
The particles combined よね is used to show that the speaker wants confirmation from the listener. It is sometimes used as a question by inflexion.
| Yusuke | You know, I worked until 10 o’ clock every night this week. |
| それは |
|
| Eri | That’s tough, isn’t it? |
| Shoko | Daichi is also coming to the festival, right? |
| そうですよ。 | |
| Taro | That’s right. |
Incidentally, ねよ has no meaning.
When used with a noun or na-adjective, female speakers will often drop the auxiliary verb in casual conversation.
| Hajime | You’re coming to the drinks tomorrow, right? |
| そうよ。 | |
| Akiko | That’s right. |
Male speakers will often replace ね with な which has the same nuance as above but sounds a little harder.