ね

ね Japanese Grammar Lesson

Grammar Type: Particle

Essential Meaning: Don’t you think? / Is that correct?

Construction: 

• Sentence + ね
  • E.g. 食たべるね [X eats, don’t you think? / X eats, isn’t that right?]
  • E.g. 話はなすね [X speaks, don’t you think? / X speaks, isn’t that right?]
  • E.g. 高たかいね [X is expensive, don’t you think? / X is expensive, isn’t that right?]
  • E.g. 静しずかだね [X is quiet, don’t you think? / X is quiet, isn’t that right?]
  • E.g. 先生せんせいだね [X is a teacher, don’t you think? / X is a teacher, isn’t that right?]

Notes:

• ね is used as a request for agreement or confirmation from an addressee. You can think of the ね of agreement as (“Don’t you agree?” or “Don’t you feel the same?“) and the ね of confirmation as (“Is that correct?” or “Can you confirm?“). ね of agreement is emotive and is paired with rising intonation, while ね of confirmation is emotionally neutral with no rising intonation.
  • E.g. ね of agreement: 今日きょうはいい天気てんきですね。[Today’s weather is great, don’t you agree?]
  • E.g. ね of confirmation: あなたは学生がくせいですね。[You’re a student, isn’t that right?]

• ね can follow any type of sentence except the impolite imperative (e.g. 読よめ [Read!] and 食たべろ [Eat!]). ね can follow the relatively weaker imperatives なさい and ください.
  • E.g. *食たべろね。[???] There is a conflict in meaning between the strong and aggressive command form and the conciliatory ね particle.
  • E.g. 読よんでくださいね。[You need to read, don’t you agree?] In this case, ね lightens the imperative statement.

• ね is sometimes used in a non-sentence final position in order to draw the hearer’s attention to something or to confirm that the hearer has understood what the speaker has said up to that point. This is analogous to interjecting “Ok?” or “All right?” in English conversations.
  • E.g. もしもし。今晩こんばんね。。。銀座ぎんざで飲のんでから帰かえるからね。。。十一じゅういち時じ半はんごろになるよ。[Hello. So, tonight, OK?…I’m going to have a drink in Ginza and then come home, OK? I’ll probably be home around 11:30 PM, all right?]

• てね or からね can be used to vaguely and equivocally express the reasoning behind a certain belief or attitude and seek the hearer’s agreement with that belief. You can think of it as meaning “It’s because of X, you know?”.
  • E.g. あの先生せんせいはとても厳きびしくてね。[It’s because that teacher is really strict, you know?]
  • E.g. あの先生せんせいはとても厳きびしいからね。[It’s because that teacher is really strict, you know?]
  • E.g. 飲のみすぎてね。[It’s because I drank too much, you know?]
  • E.g. 飲のみすぎたからね。[It’s because I drank too much, you know?]

• ね can also be used after よ to make a confident assertion and then seek agreement (i.e. “I assert X is the case. Don’t you agree?“).
  • E.g. 英語えいごが分わかるよね。[You understand English, isn’t that right?]
  • E.g. あの先生せんせいはいい先生せんせいですよね。[That teacher is a good teacher, don’t you agree?]

• ね can also be used after か to express the opposite of よね (i.e. to make an unconfident assertion rather than a confident one, and seek out the listener’s agreement), as in “I’m not sure about X. Am I right?“. In this case ね is spoken with falling intonation in order to convey doubt.
  • E.g. 山下君やましたくんは京大きょうだいに入はいれますかね。[I’m not sure, but I think Yamashita-kun got into Kyoto University. Am I right?]
  • E.g. あの先生せんせいはいい先生せんせいですかね。[I’m not certain, but I believe that teacher is good. Am I correct?]

Example Sentences:

坂本さかもとさんはタバコを吸すわないね。[Sakamoto-san doesn’t smoke, right?]

A: 今日きょうはいい天気てんきですね。B: 本当ほんとうにそうですね。[A: Today’s weather is great, don’t you think? B: Yes, you’re completely right about that.]

あなたは学生がくせいですね。[You’re a student, right?]

パーティーにいらっしゃいますね。[You’ll be at the party, right?]

WILD Examples:

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