What does 「ものさ」 mean here?

Question

In Miffy - 日本語あめの　ひの　わすれもの! at around 5:14

Miffy with her family planned to go to the beach and before they started play, Uncle said:

「おじいちゃんの子どもの頃は砂浜でお城を作って遊んだものさ。」

Weblio辞書 says:

活用語の終止形に付く。多く「だって」「でも」と呼応して用いる。現代では多く女性や子供の間で使われるが、時に撥音化して「もん」となることもある。

But it's not used by women or children here, but by uncle, what does 「ものさ」 mean here?

Related: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/69155 https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/5648 — Eddie Kal, Mar 27 '21 at 16:07
Related/duplicate: https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/43083/9831 (See `父は以前はバスで仕事に行ったものだ` `#4) Recollection and reminiscence.`) — Chocolate, Mar 29 '21 at 14:55
@cats Please try to avoid answering questions in the comment section. — Chocolate, Mar 29 '21 at 15:03

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 28 '21 at 06:08

Unfortunately you are looking at a wrong definition.

I suppose you are referring to this one under the 終助詞 (final particle) section in the entry:

１活用語の終止形に付く。多く「だって」「でも」と呼応して用いる。現代では多く女性や子供の間で使われるが、時に撥音化して「もん」となることもある。

But the correct one is under 名詞 (noun) which is way below:

５他の語句を受けて、その語句の内容を体言化する形式名詞。
　⋮
㋓（「…したものだ」の形で）過去を思い出してなつかしむ気持ちを示す。「あの店にはよく二人で行った物だ」

So the basic construction is the following.

お城を作って遊んだものだ
I used to build castles for fun.

And it seems to be rarely taught, but there are final particles that hides the copula だ and those not. さ is the former, that's why you don't see だ in that sentence.

What does 「ものさ」 mean here?

1 Answers1