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What's the meaning of ぜ at the end of sentence? Is ぜ a particle?

What's the difference between:

おい、逃{に}げるぜ。

and

おい、逃{に}げる。

I found a couple of explanations on the web but none I could fully comprehend.

Earthliŋ
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JohnDoe
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    Do you understand 逃げるよ? – Earthliŋ Jun 06 '13 at 19:51
  • 「逃げるぞ」にも似てますよね。 –  Jun 06 '13 at 19:59
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    Related: http://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/617/1478 –  Jun 06 '13 at 20:24
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    ～ぞ became ～ぞえ which got shortened to ～ぜ as stated in [the dictionary](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/120829/m0u/%E3%81%9C/): ` ［終助］《終助詞「ぞ」に終助詞「え」の付いた「ぞえ」の音変化》活用語の終止形に付く。 １ 親しみを込めて軽く念を押す意を表す。「一服しよう―」「うまくいった―」「明日までに頼んだ―」 ２ 相手を脅したり、高慢に見下して注意を喚起したりする意を表す。「どうなっても知らない―」「つまらんことは言わないほうがいい―」 [補説]近世後期、江戸語から用いられた。男性語で、ややぞんざいな感じを伴う` – jmac Jun 18 '13 at 00:31

1 Answers1

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ぜ and ぞ are sentence-final particles used (primarily) by male speakers which are more colloquial versions of the particle よ.

In order of decreasing politeness, they are

逃げるよ。
逃げるぞ。
逃げるぜ。

The addition of よ・ぞ・ぜ give the statement an assertive feel, maybe like an exclamation mark or adding something like "hey!" (although that's already represented in the sentence by おい).

Speaking of which, おい is also a very colloquial way of getting someone's attention, which fits well with the use of ぜ over よ.

This question also has an explanation for ぞ, which carries over to ぜ as well.

Community
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Earthliŋ
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    I know よ but never met ぞ・ぜ before. Now everything seem to be clear. Many thanks for answer. – JohnDoe Jun 08 '13 at 10:13
  • Note: while this is technically 'standard Japanese' it does not translate to many regions of Japan (namely Kansai). – jmac Jun 18 '13 at 00:32