Not sure what you are ordering at sushi bar? Learn final particles ne, yo, and yone
How are the following sentences different? Their basic meaning is the same: “This is toro.”
A: Kore wa toro desu ne. ↑
B: Kore wa toro desu yo. ↑
C: Kore wa toro desu yone. ↑
* Toro – fatty tuna
When would you use final particles ne, yo, and yone? Let’s look at a conversation at a sushi restaurant. If you seem to be alone at a sushi restaurant, the waiter would say the following in order to confirm his assumption that you are alone.
Waiter: Ohitorisama desu ne. ↑ {Are you by yourself?}
You: Hai, soo desu. {Yes, I am.}
Next, the waiter would take your order. You look at the menu and find a picture of sea urchin nigiri-zushi (hand-rolled sushi), which you know about but which you have never tasted, and ask him, “This is sea urchin, isn’t it?” You want to confirm your assumption.
Waiter: Nani ni nasaimasu ka. {What would you like to order?}
You: (Looking at the menu, you point to the picture of sea urchin nigiri-zushi.) Kore wa uni desu ne. ↑ {This is sea urchin, isn’t it?}
Ne ↑ is used to solicit confirmation of the speaker’s assumption. Assuming that you do not know it is delicious, the waiter would say,
Waiter: Hai, soo desu. Oishii desu yo ↑. {Yes, it is. It’s delicious.}
Here the waiter implicitly encourages you to try uni nigiri-zushi by using yo. ↑ In this way yo ↑ is used to attract the listener’s attention and makes it clear that the speaker is informing the listener of something, by which the speaker implicitly tries to influence the listener’s actions.
Now, you look at toro in the showcase in front of you. You guess it is ootoro (belly of tuna with a high fat content), but you are not sure whether it is ootoro or chuutoro (medium fatty tuna). So, you ask like this:
You: Kore, ootoro desu yone. ↑ {This is ootoro, isn’t it?}
Waiter: Ee, soo desu. {Yes, it is.}
Yone ↑ is used to confirm the speaker’s assumption like ne ↑ , but it is used when the speaker is less sure about their assumption than when using ne.
To summarize:
A: Kore wa toro desu ne. ↑
A wants to confirm their assumption that this is fatty tuna.
B: Kore wa toro desu yo. ↑
B wants to tell the listener that this is fatty tuna, which B thinks the listener does not know. B implicitly encourages the listener to try it.
C: Kore wa toro desu yone. ↑
C guesses that this is fatty tuna, but is very unsure about it. C wants to confirm their assumption.
Each of the examples demonstrates how these final particles can be used to confirm or encourage assumptions. You, however, should know these are the very basic usages of the final particles, ne, yo, and yone. There are additional uses in real-life conversation.
(by Mari Ushiyama, Japanese language instructor, Continuing Education, Temple University, Japan Campus)
Studying Japanese in Tokyo?
Temple University, Japan Campus offers various Japanese language courses such as Practical Business Japanese, Kanji, Interpretation Skills, and Preparation for Nihongo Nouryoku Shiken. Please visit www.tuj.ac.jp/cont-ed/courses/ for courses offered in our summer semester 2013.
