Adding わ andの to a sentence/statement

3 comments

1. の at the end of a sentence makes it a question in the plain form. (どうした is already a question in this case, but still.) か is used in the desu/masu polite form. However, ironically, it makes things sound ruder if used in a plain/casual form sentence. (Note that question marks are not used in the most formal of writings, but this isn’t that.)

   These questions ask, “Is that okay/good?”, “Is that so?”, and “Are you a student?” respectively. The first is formal/polite. The second is informal yet polite. The third is informal and not polite. Note that na-adjectives and nouns require a な before の.

   いいですか？

   いいの？

   いいか？

   そうですか？

   そうなの？

   そうか？

   学生ですか？

   学生なの？

   学生か？

   This informal yet polite usage of の as a question marker is more common among women than men, but can be used by both. わ, on the other hand, doesn’t give a question meaning, and it’s used almost exclusively by women (with of course some exceptions). Also, instead of な, you would use the “copula” だ before わ (unless is is an adjective that doesn’t need it). I guess わ makes things sound more “high-class lady-like”.

   Also, an informal, impolite way of showing shock or to stress the question is のか. For example:

   いいのか？ (Are you sure that’s okay?)

   This again is less polite and more masculine-sounding.

   Also, の without a question meaning can abbreviated to ん and then だ/です can be added after it to yield んだ/んです.

   いいんだ。 (It’s okay.)

   そうなんだ。 (Oh. I see.)

   学生なんだ。(I’m a student (actually).)

2. ‘wa’ is feminine, ‘no’ is not. Unless you are talking kansai-ben, then ‘wa’ is more common among both genders.

   ‘no’ to make a casual question is very very common.

   it’s hard to describe the meaning of a ‘wa’ sentence but it makes it more ’emotionally connected’ with the speaker, maybe a nuance like “I feel that…”. manga writers do overexaggerate the differences between female and male speakers, so you’ll see this one more often in manga than you would irl but you do still hear it a lot.

   possibly if you think ‘no’ is associated with female characters it’s because ‘doushita no’ is (not only but it is) a way you would talk to children so it’s something a mother might say. and as another commenter said, a male might be 50/50 between ‘no’ and ‘ka’ in informal convo, whereas a female might favour ‘no’ in the same situation.

   (though in their examples, i would add that ‘sou ka’ and ‘sou nano’ feel like they have different nuances because the phrases are both common – the former is when you are reminded of something and the latter is when your friend tells you new information.)

3. Regarding わ, if it is manga, it is usually feminine.

   However, in real life, you may hear people speaking in Kansai dialect, where わ is used by both men and women. See [this video](https://youtu.be/KICvbqYkhK4?si=d7QokISfPtwlqZAj) at 0:25 where the person on the left says 「あ、ほんまない**わ**…ない**わ**！こいつない**わ**！こいつない**わ**！！！」You can probably deduce what kind of feeling it is supposed to give.