Sentence Ender よ
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln
The first sentence ender we’re going to start with is probably one of the easiest (and possibly most common) sentence enders out there, よ. We’ll also be using よ to learn what sentence enders are and how they work.
As you can imagine, a “sentence ender” comes at the end of a sentence. They just add a little extra something to a sentence, and usually that “something” is some kind of feeling, which can be hard to translate into direct words. Take a look at what I mean:
すし を たべます
I eat sushi
すし を たべますよ！
I eat sushi
Oh no, they have the same meanings! How confusing. Even though these two sentences are written the same way, they aren’t the same. The sentence with the sentence ender よ in it has a different feeling. Basically, the second sentence is an assertion, whereas the first sentence (without the よ) is just a statement.
The sentence ender よ is used to make assertions.
That’s it! Basically, you can just add it to the end of any almost any kind of sentence, and it will make the meaning of that sentence into more of an assertion. Let’s take another look at the example from above.
すし を たべます
I eat sushi
In this sentence, someone is simply stating that they eat sushi. Great. Nothing special about that. Now, let’s take a look at the sentence with よ in it.
すし を たべますよ
I eat sushi
In this situation, perhaps someone needs to assert that they eat sushi. Maybe you’re an American, and Japanese people aren’t quite believing you eat sushi. “Don’t worry! すしをたべますよ！” you say. You are asserting that, in fact, you do eat sushi. Let’s take a look at another.
いえ に かえりますよ！
I will return home!
In this sentence you’re making an announcement to someone / some people. You’re making the assertion that you’re leaving to return home. This sentence kind of has the same feeling as “I’m going guys! Okay?” One more.
わたし は ブラッド・ピット ですよ
I am Brad Pitt
Perhaps someone runs into Brad Pitt, but then they don’t believe it’s him. “No way you’re Brad Pitt!” “Uhh, yeah, I’m Brad Pitt,” he asserts back.
Of course, you can use it with そうです as well. Asserting “it is so!” can be really useful. For example, someone asks:
クリスさん は ６じ に ねましたか？
Chris went to sleep at 6?
そうですよ！
It is so!
Now, I know that “it is so” is a weird thing to say in English. In Japanese, however, it’s as common and normal as day and night. It doesn’t sound weird and clunky like it does in English, so try to imagine “it is so” as something that sounds normal to say.
You’ll find a lot of opportunities to add よ onto your sentences. It’s easy to make assertions, and there’s definitely a bit of leeway in terms of what’s an “assertion” and what isn’t. Just don’t be the guy or gal that overuses the よ sentence ender. There’s always someone who overdoes it with sentence enders (not just よ), so be sure to pick and choose your battles.
We’re going to keep going here and take a look at the next one, which should be easier. Be sure to write this one down along with all the other sentence-enders we’re going to learn and keep your notes handy. We’ll continue to use and practice these throughout TextFugu, so you’ll get practice, but there’ll be a short period of time where you might not be sure what each sentence-ender does.