How is “desu wa” used?

10 comments

1. My advice if you are truly a beginner, ending particles like wa, yo and ne can be really complicated to understand.

   They are ‘flavor’ particle and they denote different tones and subtle meaning. They can be rude AND they can be casual depending on the context.

   You mentionned ‘snobbish women’. Could also be confident, blunt women with wa.

2. It’s like how Canadian people add eh to the end of sentences, it’s basically mannerisms of speech and has no actual grammatical content.

3. I think it’s more like a mannerism. Also in some things I stopped trying to make sense of it in my native language. Because there were different in many ways.

4. I feel like this is indeed a very tricky particle. I would not say its either polite, or rude, but I definitely would not say its formal, for I personally would not use it outside of casual conversation. Nevertheless, even though it is a sentence ending particle generally confined to the realm of casual intercourse, I cannot say that it is commonly used (amongst those who do use it to begin with) with the same frequency as ne. If anything, I’d say its a particle between ne and yo, and that does indeed give a rather girly impression. If anythIng, I can only recommend that when you are consuming any and all Japanese media you pay attention to how its used and how the people that use it are perceived.

5. Here is a good primer: https://youtu.be/P__nmPVH8Uo

6. She was probably pretty much joking. ～だわ is relatively common in fiction for various types of women, but ～**です**わ is almost exclusively associated with rich, classy ladies. She was probably trying to make a little joke, especially if it was a fairly fancy place.

   (This feminine わ is not common in real life outside of when you try to do this. Still, I think yakuwarigo is worth learning even if you’re not into anime, because it’s something people know and will reference.)

7. Step 1: place your hand on your mouth but make a gesture like you’re pointing to your side
   Step 2: laugh like brook from one piece (this is important or it will be grammatically incorrect)
   Step 3: say something in japanese
   Step 4: desu wa

8. I have an older textbook which describes *-wa* as “a particle of mild assertiveness” and “an example of truly feminine speech.” It can be used on its own, or in conjunction with *-yo* or *-nee* (i.e., *desu wa yo*, *desu wa nee*).

   The book doesn’t purport it to be either formal or informal, but rather classifies it as “gentle” on a scale of gentle to blunt (for example, *dekiru wa yo* is more “gentle” than *dekiru yo*, in the same way that *sou da nee* is more “blunt” than *sou nee*). It can be used with both *desu/masu* and *da/(r)u*.

   Not sure how common the particle actually is outside of media in the modern day, but that’s the “traditional” usage of it. Modern perception probably associates the speech pattern most with the “ojou-sama” archetype, but at least historically I don’t think it was necessarily associated with haughtiness, only with femininity.

9. Think of it like adding a … to the end of a phrase. To imply there is another thing to be said, but nothing is actually said. Can also come across as snobby, etc.

10. (だ)わ in normal, 3D-human speech is really casual so ですわ sounds like character speech. “Rich bitch” is the usual connotation but it can also be “flamboyantly femme man” – or sometimes women use it too for extra gender-bend points – やれやれだわ

    The most common use of (だ)わ among younger people is an exclamation of personal emotion or decision. もういい、帰るわ has about the same energy as “fuck this I’m out” – it’s not that わ is rude *per se* but it is strong, so you should pay attention to how it’s used before trying it yourself.

    Another use, common in fiction but outdated in 3D, is sorta vaguely like よ but mostly just means “feminine speaker.” This use is often combined with other particles そういえば、そんなこともあったわね