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Can you do this with any verb? e.g."食べもしないわ"

Also what's the meaning of "わ" at the of verbs like "壊すわ"?

Izuna
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1 Answers1

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  • 食べる eat
  • 食べない not eat
  • 食べはしない not eat (but do drink)
  • 食べもしない not even eat
  • 食べすらしない not even so much as eat

and so on

わ as a sentence-ender is used differently in different dialects. With no context here （壊すわ） it's hard to say exactly, but in general, in the standard dialect, it's used for feminine emphasis.

[edit] per the comment from blutorange, the grammatical pattern is 連用形, which acts as a sort of noun, + 助詞 + する. Which also means it need not be negative: 人なのだとわかりはするけど、もうちょっと近づかないと誰だとははっきりわからない

Brandon
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  • Good idea, and you didn't say so explicitly, but the question was about a grammatical breakdown and this list implies that for 知る - and 五段 verbs in general - it would be 知る→知らない→✘知らはしない. The 連用形 and 未然形 just happen to be the same for 食べる and 一段 verbs. Perhaps you could make that 知る→知りません→知りもしない？ – blutorange Dec 30 '14 at 07:06
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    >"in the standard dialect, it's used for feminine emphasis." In fiction, yes. In reality, it's far from the standard. – user4092 Dec 30 '14 at 08:21
  • I have little first hand experience with the "standard" as actually spoken by Tokyoites; here in Kansai however わ is extremely common -- but obviously not feminine and with a different intonation. Would you say that わ is more or less 役割語 insofar as the poster's question? – Brandon Dec 30 '14 at 08:49
  • Me? IMO it's out of the category of "standard Japanese" which stands for the language one would use in public. It once became a fad among a certain age cluster and some linguists started to insist it should be an ideal (and textbooks adopted it). Even in New Tokyo dialect (politically correct term), namely "standard" as you say, the one people speak in private, Such feminine language is a minority. – user4092 Dec 30 '14 at 09:43
  • "わ = feminine" is indeed a common myth among J-learners -- even among those who reside in Japan. Wonder where they hear the feminine わ so often when I, a native speaker, rarely ever hear it in real life. –  Dec 30 '14 at 11:29
  • Not sure I've ever heard it either in real life; only from TV オカマ or similar 「行くわよ」, or some fictional お嬢様・母君 type character. – Brandon Dec 30 '14 at 11:37
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    On the other hand, not feminine wa (the one in falling intonation) will pop up here and there. – user4092 Dec 30 '14 at 12:33
  • Or, always and everywhere in and around 大阪 :D 日が暮れて急に寒うなったわ。こんなん耐えられへん、もうあかんわ～。はよ家に帰ろか？ – Brandon Dec 30 '14 at 12:46