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What exactly is (nano)?

I asked a female Japanese friend to translate a sentence for me and it ends in "nano" which I took to be either an alternative question particle to -ne or -ka; or possibly two particles I don't know which could come together. But just now I looked it up in wwwjdict and it tells me it's a "feminine copula". So does this mean "" (nano) is a synonym of "" (desu) that only female speakers use? Assuming it's not very formal, what should I use instead as a noun? Also does this mean it's a verb and if so what kind of conjugation or other forms does it have? EDIT Since this has turned out to be quite subtle and even controversial, here is my sentence: (Original English: Why must life be so difficult?) Japanese translation:
verbs register copula questions sentence-final-particles

edited Sep 12 '12 at 1:19 Mechanical snail 554 2 17

asked Jun 3 '11 at 18:06 hippietrail 3,846 15 68

4 Answers
Everyone's done a great job of answering this one, so I'm just going to add a quick answer. The that you're asking about is really just . The is only there if you use it after a noun or a na-adjective (, , ). The most common way of using this is as a question marker. - Is it really? This is the same as but less formal. ? What are you doing? The same as . Or even less formally, ? ? - Is your work difficult? More formally as - You don't seem well. What happened? is really common as a way of asking "What's wrong" or "What happened?" You can use it to answer a question too ( - It is expensive), but I think the form you were asking about was the question form. So for your question phrase, , the is making it a question (although it would be a question without the ) but also making it more emotional (in much the same was as adds emotion). I think that women might use it without the , even after a noun or na-adjective: ? Note here that you should only use this with kids or good friends, and that there's a rising intonation at the end.
edited Jun 7 '11 at 22:10 answered Jun 7 '11 at 21:49 nevan king 2,446 8 26

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verbs - What exactly is "" (nano)? - Japanese Language & Usage Stac... http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/514/what-exactly-is--nano

heys cool =) btw does it mean that the after is optional? or is it actually required but in speech usually taken away because of laziness? what may be the difference between and ? what about if its not a noun, will this be fine: Pacerier Jun 21 '11 at 3:28 As far as I know, dropping the is a feminine speech form. It makes it sound softer. It's the same as dropping a at the end of a sentence. But adding a like in sounds strange. nevan king Jun 21 '11 at 12:34 ? is ungrammatical. You might be confusing things, since you mention without saying that this is mainly feminine speech. dainichi Aug 14 '12 at 1:14 Ah, and also and are used, mainly in feminine speech. Yeah, I realize it's confusing. dainichi Aug 14 '12 at 1:16

relates to the construction, and as such provides explanatory, secondary, or supporting information (which could be a reason, a cause, or other fact the speaker feels would aid in the listener's understanding). Note that the is only used if the preceding word is a noun or -adjective. Following a verb or -adjective, only is used: That park is beautiful. When I took a closer look, that animal turned out to be a cat. After that, I went shopping for a bit. This homework is really difficult. These sentences have a feminine sound to them; to make them more masculine, change to , or in written form. , or in written form, is a polite equivalent which is also genderneutral. Also, while this doesn't come through in the English, the use of implies that the preceding sentence plays a supporting role in the surrounding context. It's still important, but the role it plays is more like that of a framework which buttresses the speaker's main point. This is a somewhat delicate inflection, the complete treatment of which is beyond the scope of this question.
answered Jun 3 '11 at 18:42 Derek Schaab 9,407 20 50 The in feels a lot like the which can be used to replace . Kdansky Jun 3 '11 at 23:40 is it possible to include even if the preceding word isn't a noun? as such: (possible.., weird.., or completely wrong and never used?) Pacerier Jun 21 '11 at 3:36 @Pacerier: , being an -adjective, can't be followed by , so is incorrect. Derek Schaab Jun 21 '11 at 12:17 You are correct that () in the affirmative is feminine speech, but you might want to mention that in questions, it is neutral (at least in standard (Kanto?) Japanese, western speakers might feel differently). dainichi Aug 14 '12 at 1:23

is kind of a conclusion used at the end of explanation with a calm/quit sense.Example., She is university student, you know. It is just combination of two particles and . is polite form, and is same with just omitting after that. sometime it is used as is used by females most of the time, but may use by males too.
edited Jun 3 '11 at 18:27 answered Jun 3 '11 at 18:22 YOU 5,726 3 14 33

And (whether or not preceeded by ) is used to explain reasoning. (Why can't you go) (Because I have homework). So for YOU's example above, "She is a university student, you know." implies

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verbs - What exactly is "" (nano)? - Japanese Language & Usage Stac... http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/514/what-exactly-is--nano

that there was some previous questioning/discussion about her. istrasci Jun 3 '11 at 18:26 @istraci: would be better expressed as . However, if you were asked ("Do you really have to do this?") you could say ("Yes, it's homework [and that's why I have to do this]."). Derek Schaab Jun 3 '11 at 18:48

EDIT:As per Derek's comment, I have misunderstood the meaning of copula. My examples here were all ending particles (jp: ). The {Noun/ Adj}- or {Adj/Verb}- ending particle has various usage, and according to 's , the primary users are different according to usage.

Question
Used to indicate inquiry. Inclining intonation. User: Children as general, or ordinary people towards their close ones (friends, family). Tetsuo: Are you going somewhere tomorrow?

Explanation
To explain a circumstance. Declining intonation. User: Children, female people. Light mooded. Kanako: Yeah, I've got something up with the neighbourhood association.

Assent
Confirmation expression. Intonation can be either inclining or declining. Tetsuo: Wow, Kanako's quite active in the association, huh. You can see that it implies a certain degree of surprise of unexpectedness.

Light volition
To express volition, either an order or a prohibition, in a light manner. Declining intonation. User: female, towards someone of lower rank (e.g. younger people). Kanako: That's right. And Tec-chan, you ought to stop skipping association meetings. That's why you are always shy of other people. Come on, you should go together tomorrow. Oorah?

See how the ending particle can be replaced with similar ones. I'll be using polite form for each: 1. () 2. (a) () (b) () 3. () 4. ({verb}{verb} 5. ({verb}{verb})

edited Jun 5 '11 at 5:39

answered Jun 3 '11 at 19:33 syockit 905 3 9

Wait, since when did become a copula? If anything, it's a particle, or perhaps an unspecified noun. But the copula is still ; it's just often omitted in informal speech. Telling people to think about as an alternate form of (regardless of what WWWJDIC says) will only lead to confusion. Derek Schaab Jun 3 '11 at 20:20

@Derek: There's more than one . Eleanor Jordan expands on the various forms of 'no' in her JSL series. But the particle , the nominal-replacement and the copula are all distinct. Each one undergoes slightly different changes in different contexts. jkerian Jun 3 '11 at 20:41

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verbs - What exactly is "" (nano)? - Japanese Language & Usage Stac... http://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/514/what-exactly-is--nano

@jkerian: Yes, I realize has multiple functions based on the context, but I find the idea of calling a copula unreasonable. How then would you classify ? A double-copula? A third copula separate from and ? This just makes it more difficult for the student who's trying to learn what the actually does. Derek Schaab Jun 3 '11 at 21:33 The vocabulary I've usually heard is to call " " the "extended predicate". I suppose I haven't worried too much about taking it apart beyond understanding its various forms as a unit. jkerian Jun 3 '11 at 21:54

FWIW, the relevent line in JSL introducing the extended predicate is "Though clearly related to the nominal no 'one(s)' that was introduced previously, its overall patterning requires that it be treated seperately." jkerian Jun 3 '11 at 23:22

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