Thinking aloud

Stage 1Sentence endings & intentChunk 26 of 26 · items 112–115 of 484

Endings for talking half to yourself: exclaiming, wondering, trying to remember, and summing things up loosely.

Mix-ups

kana wonders about something you don't know, while kke tries to recall something you once knew. naa is said to yourself, where ne would draw the listener in (samui naa vs samui ne). tte kanji loosely sums up your own impression; it is not tte koto?, which checks what the other person meant.

naa

polite desu neecasual onlydrama rank #387

...huh (to oneself)

なあPlay ですねえPlay

Exclaims or muses to yourself, for envy, admiration or wishes (ii naa, samui naa, ikitai naa). Unlike ne, it isn't aimed at the listener. Polite speech has no self-talk; drawn-out desu nee is the nearest.

casualPlay

kyou samui naa

Man, it's cold today.

今日寒いなあ

politePlay

kyou wa samui desu nee

It's really cold today, isn't it.

今日は寒いですねえ

Short na works after adjectives and -tai (samui na, ikitai na). After a dictionary-form verb, short na is a rough prohibition (iku na = don't go!), so stretch it: ame furu naa. Short na aimed at someone in place of ne (sou da na, jaa na) is masculine-leaning.

kana

polite desu ka ne / deshou kadrama rank #90

I wonder

かなPlay ですかね／でしょうかPlay

Wonders aloud about something you don't know, or softens a guess or request (ii kana? = is it okay?). Because it is half to yourself, the listener can answer or not.

casualPlay

kaigi ashita kana

Is the meeting tomorrow, I wonder?

会議明日かな

politePlay

kaigi wa ashita desu ka ne

Is the meeting tomorrow, I wonder?

会議は明日ですかね

No da before it: ashita kana, not *ashita da kana. deshou ka is the more formal polite option, right for clerks and superiors. kana is common even with coworkers as a soft hedge: ...kana to omoimasu. The feminine kashira is dated and heard mostly in dramas.

Learn alongside: kke, darou (Stage 3)

kke

polite deshita kke / -mashita kkedrama rank #712

what was it again?

っけPlay でしたっけ／〜ましたっけPlay

Asks someone to confirm something you once knew but have half-forgotten, like a name, time or plan. It attaches to da / datta or a past verb (nan datta kke?, itta kke?); with a non-past verb, use n da kke (iku n da kke?). It can also be nostalgic self-talk: yoku asonda kke (we used to play a lot).

casualPlay

kaigi ashita da kke?

Wait, is the meeting tomorrow again?

会議明日だっけ？

politePlay

kaigi wa ashita deshita kke?

Sorry, remind me, is the meeting tomorrow?

会議は明日でしたっけ？

deshita kke is fine with coworkers but a little casual for superiors.

Learn alongside: kana, darou (Stage 3)Learn first: da

tte kanji

polite tte kanji desuslangdrama rank #305*

kind of like...

って感じ ってかんじPlay って感じですPlay

Sums up a feeling or situation loosely ('it's like...'), so you can approximate when you lack the exact words. sonna kanji means 'something like that', and konna kanji desu (it's like this) is fine at work.

casualPlay

maa futsuu tte kanji

Eh, it's kind of just okay.

まあ普通って感じ

politePlay

maa futsuu tte kanji desu

It's sort of just average.

まあ普通って感じです

A sentence-final X tte kanji is youthful and sounds vague when overused; sonna / konna kanji is the neutral all-purpose core.