Using 「よ」(yo) and 「ね」(ne) to speak more natural-sounding Japanese

In Japanese, there are a number of different particles that people use to add more emotion and personality to their sentences.

The particles that are actually used in everday life vary from region to region, with different Japanese dialects often having their own alternatives, but probably the two most common ones are “yo”「よ」 and “ne”「ね」.

In this article, we’re going to take a detailed look at how we can use each of these particles to convey different emotions. We’ll also see how we can use both of them together to express something different again.

Let’s get to it, starting with the particle “yo”「よ」!

The particle “yo”「よ」

The particle “yo”「よ」 is often added to the end of a sentence to make an assertion or to add a moderate degree of emphasis. It can be like saying, “as a matter of fact, this is how it is.”

There are many different situations where we might use “yo”「よ」.

For example, we might use it to:

• add emphasis when we provide new information
• confirm a fact
• give an opinion
• express disagreement
• insist something
• reprimand people, that is, telling them that they’ve done something wrong

Now, this is not by any means an exhaustive list, and there are other situations where “yo”「よ」 is often used.

What’s common amongst all of them, though, is that when we say something that ends with “yo”「よ」, we’re adding some assertiveness to what we’re saying. There is a degree of conviction in what we’re saying.

It’s a bit like saying, “This is how it is,” and not leaving any room for doubt.

The way we use “yo”「よ」 is to simply add it to the end of a sentence.

What’s great about this is that we don’t have to change anything about the sentence itself. It doesn’t matter if we’re speaking informally or using the polite form – all we need to do is add “yo”「よ」 to the end of the sentence. That’s it.

Let’s have a look at examples of each of the situations above, and hopefully this will give you a better feel for when “yo”「よ」 is typically used.

Using “yo”「よ」 to provide new information

Let’s start with an example where we providing new information to someone, and using “yo”「よ」 to emphasize it.

Here, we’ve taken what would otherwise be a simple statement that “there is a vending maching over there”, and just added “yo”「よ」 at the end.

So, how is this different from just saying the same thing without “yo”「よ」?

In both cases, we’re just saying something and providing new information. The difference when adding “yo”「よ」 is that it makes it stronger, and in this case, it feels like we’re telling the person something they didn’t know.

There is also an implication that this is particularly useful information to them. Maybe the person is thirsty and needs a drink. They might think that there’s nothing they can do about that, but in fact, there is! There’s a vending machine over there!

We’re telling them this as a way to be helpful by giving them new information that we think they didn’t have before, and that is particularly relevant to them in this moment.

If we just said, “asoko ni jidōhanbaiki ga arimasu”「あそこに自動販売機じどうはんばいきがあります」, it doesn’t have much texture to it. It’s quite a bland statement that doesn’t really have any clear purpose to it.

However, when we add “yo”「よ」, it gives the sentence that purpose. We’re telling them this for a reason, so instead of just saying, “There’s a vending machine over there,” we’re saying something more like, “Didn’t you know there’s a vending machine over there?”

It just adds that little bit more character to the statement.

Confirming a fact

When somebody asks a simple yes/no question, we of course typically respond by confirming “yes/no, that is/isn’t what happened”. We can use “yo”「よ」 to emphasize our answer.

For example, if somebody asked:

We might respond by saying:

Again, we could just say, “hai, mimashita”「はい、見みました」, or even just “hai”「はい」 (although repeating the verb as confirmation is more natural). We don’t need to add “yo”「よ」, but by adding “yo”「よ」, we’re adding a little bit of strength to the answer as if to remove any doubt about the situation.

It also softens it a little bit. Instead of just saying, “hai, mimashita”「はい、見みました」 in a robotic way, we soften it and make it a little bit more human by saying, “hai, mimashita yo”「はい、見みましたよ」. “Yeah, actually, I did see it.”

Like the previous example, there is some purpose to this sentence – we’re giving a direct answer to the question that was asked. Adding “yo”「よ」 makes it even more clear that this is the truth, as if to say, “This is what happened. I did, in fact, see the fireworks.”

Giving an opinion

Another situation where “yo”「よ」 adds emphasis is when giving an opinion or sharing our thoughts about something.

For example, if someone asked us:

We might respond by saying:

Once again, we could say this without “yo”「よ」, but in this case, adding “yo”「よ」 implies that the person asking the question maybe didn’t necessarily think that it was going to be fun. Maybe they had a different opinion, or they really weren’t sure what to expect, so the fact we thought it was fun is new or possibly even surprising information to them.

Similar to the other situations, including “yo”「よ」 here adds a degree of assertiveness and makes sure the person knows that, “Yeah, it actually was fun, at least in my opinion.”

Wondering why these phrases are shown as “verbs”? See my article about “desu”「です」.

Expressing disagreement

One specific type of opinion that we often share is disagreement. If somebody says something that we disagree with, we might push back and say, “Actually, it’s this!”

In Japanese, we would do this using “yo”「よ」.

For example, when somebody says something we disagree with, a common way to respond is to say:

Firstly, the word “chigaimasu”「違ちがいます」 literally means “different”, though importantly, it is a verb in Japanese, while “different” is an adjective in English. This of course affects how these words are used.

In this particular case, we’re using it to effectively say, “you’re wrong” or “that’s not right”. In English we would more likely say this more directly, but as is often the case, in Japanese, a more indirect, or at least less shame-infused phrasing is more culturally appropriate.

The word “chigaimasu”「違ちがいます」 fits the occasion nicely. Literally it means “different”, and it’s frequently used to effectively say, “things are different to what you have said.”

As with the other examples, adding “yo”「よ」 to this makes that denial more assertive.

For example, when somebody says something or asks a question in a very straightforward manner, such as:

We might say:

This simply conveys in a neutral way that, “no, what you said is incorrect.”

However, if somebody states something as fact that we strongly disagree with, for example:

We can express our disagreement with this more strongly by adding “yo”「よ」:

Adding “yo”「よ」 better emphasizes our disagreement by making our statement more assertive. We’re effectively saying, “I think you’re wrong. I think this is how it is.”

Insisting something

A situation that is similar to emphasizing our opinion or disagreement is when we want to insist something.

For example, if something bad happens and we’re accused of causing it to happen, we might want to insist that, “It’s not my fault!” We would do this by saying:

The word “sei”「せい」 essentially means “fault” in this situation, so, by itself, “watashi no sei janai desu.”「私わたしのせいじゃないです。」, literally means, “It is not my fault.”

We could just say this if we wanted, but once again, adding “yo”「よ」 makes it stronger and more assertive, as if to say, “There’s no doubt about it – it’s not my fault.”

Reprimanding

When reprimanding someone – telling them they’ve done something wrong – “yo”「よ」 can once again be added to make the expressions strong or more assertive.

For example, if somebody named Daito is late for school, his teacher might tell him off by saying:

The suffix “kun”「くん」, by the way, is often added when addressing boys, similar to the way “san”「さん」 is often added to people’s names to be polite or show respect. Though it’s typically used for male children, it is also sometimes used when referring to adult men by people who are significantly older than them; that is, people who they might see as boys even though they may be adults.

Again, adding “yo”「よ」 makes it stronger and more assertive. Daito is being told, “Without a doubt, you are late”, in a fairly assertive way.

Hopefully all of these examples show that “yo”「よ」 makes a statement more assertive, but importantly, the degree of that assertiveness varies.

When we’re just providing new information, perhaps to be helpful or to answer a simple question, adding “yo”「よ」 really just tells the person there’s no doubt about it. “This is how it is.”

In other cases, such as when we use it to insist something or reprimand someone, that assertiveness is much stronger, and the “yo”「よ」 really serves to express our displeasure.

So, “yo”「よ」 can be used softly as a way to provide information, and it can also be used quite strongly to really drive the point home.

As I mentioned, there are other situations where “yo”「よ」 will be used, but the effect is generally the same. That is, adding “yo”「よ」 makes a statement stronger, adds some assertiveness, or implies there is no doubt about the situation, all while making it sound more natural and human.

The particle “ne”「ね」

The particle “ne”「ね」 is also extremely common, and it’s generally used to express or seek agreement, though it’s actual usage tends to be more broad than that.

For example, we might use it when we say something that we think the other person is going to agree with. In many cases, it is just like adding, “isn’t it?”, to the end of something. Sometimes it implies that we expect the other person to confirm what we’ve said, or that they think the same thing, although that’s not always the case.

It’s also often used in response to something that somebody else says as a way to express that we agree with them. It adds the feeling of, “Yeah, I agree with that. That’s true.”

Whatever the situation, the way we use “ne”「ね」 is to simply add it to the end of the sentence, just as we do with “yo”「よ」. It works in both informal and polite Japanese, and we don’t need to change the sentence in any other way.

Let’s see some example situations where “ne”「ね」 is commonly used.

Presuming agreement

The most basic application of “ne”「ね」 is when we say something that we think the other person will likely agree with. For example:

As the English translation shows here, the “ne”「ね」 in this sentence really just means, “isn’t it?”.

However, just like in English, this is not necessarily an actual question that we expect the other person to respond to. We’re really expressing ourselves with some added emotion, as if to say, “Oh, it’s hot, isn’t it!?”, rather than just making a simple matter-of-fact statement.

We expect that the other person will agree with us, but just like when we say, “isn’t it?” in English, it’s more of a statement than it is a question.

Expressing agreement

A typical response to the above might be something like:

This effectively means, “Yes, that’s right, I agree with you”, and you’ll notice that a response like this will also usually include “ne”「ね」.

That’s typically how it works. You’re both agreeing on something and you both use “ne”「ね」 to show that you have that mutual understanding or agreement about something.

The first person makes a statement with “ne”「ね」 added, as if to seek agreement from the other person. The second person then responds to express agreement, and does so by mirroring their use of “ne”「ね」.

By the way, if the second person didn’t agree for some reason, then that would be a situation where they might respond by expressing what they really think and emphasizing it with “yo”「よ」.

Expressing sympathy

Another common situation where “ne”「ね」 is used is when expressing sympathy towards someone. For example:

The word “zannen”「残念ざんねん」 effectively means “regrettable” or “unfortunate”, and when used by itself like this often translates well as “a shame” (not to be confused with the shame that somebody feels, like embarrasment).

This example is less about seeking agreement from the person that we’re talking to, and more about showing that shared connection, and expressing sympathy or understanding of what the person is experiencing.

The broader definition of “ne”「ね」 is that it expresses or seeks agreement, but it’s really about shared feelings or emotions, which of course is precisely what empathy and sympathy are.

Whether we are simply agreeing with a statement of fact or empathizing with someone, we are showing that we feel the same way about something as the other person. That’s really what “ne”「ね」 is about.

If somebody tells us something unfortunate, and we want to show that we empathize with that person, we might say, “sore wa zannen desu ne.”「それは残念ざんねんですね。」 – “That’s a shame, isn’t it?”.

If we don’t include “ne”「ね」, it would still express the same idea, but in a much more matter-of-fact way. Adding “ne”「ね」 puts much more emotion behind it, expressing that feeling of empathy.

In other words, it makes it more human.

Agreement about a fact

While empathizing and feelings are one end of the emotive spectrum, at the other end is pure fact, and even there, we can still use “ne”「ね」 to express agreement about what the facts are.

For example, if I am looking for somebody together with another person and I think they might be in a particular room, but when we get there, they are not, I might say:

Now, first of all, I haven’t specified who it is that “is not here”, but that’s implied by the context, so there is no need to explicitly state it.

As is generally the case in Japanese, information that is mutually understood by everyone in the conversation can simply be omitted. In English we use pronouns (he, she, etc.) instead of names if everyone knows who we’re talking about, but in Japanese, we don’t need such a placeholder and can just leave it off entirely.

In this example, that the person I’m referring to “is not here” is a simple fact. It’s not a subjective statement like “it’s hot”, and there’s no emotion or empathy involved.

By adding “ne”「ね」 in this case, I am really expressing that I am sure the other person agrees with this fact. I might say something like this if it is obvious to both me and the person I’m with that the person we’re looking for is not here.

If, however, the other person searching wasn’t with me in that room, and therefore didn’t know that the person wasn’t there, I would be less likely to add “ne”「ね」 to this statement. The other person can’t agree with me or share the same observation, so I would more likely just say, in a more factual way, “koko ni imasen.”「ここにいません。」. Meanwhile, if it was surprising or unexpected, I might instead add “yo”「よ」 to say “koko ni imasen yo.”「ここにいませんよ。」.

Essentially, we would use “ne”「ね」 in a case like this when the other person probably already knows that what we’re saying is true. We’re not saying it to provide new information or tell the other person something they didn’t already know; we’re kind of just thinking out loud.

Like the other cases, we’re just saying something that we expect that they will agree with.

Using “yo”「よ」 and “ne”「ね」 together

In addition to using “yo”「よ」 and “ne”「ね」 individually as shown in the examples above, we can also use them together. That is, we can end a sentence with, “yone”「よね」,

This combination is often used together to express a belief or opinion, while at the same time seeking agreement or confirmation.

It really combines the two independent uses of “yo”「よ」 and “ne”「ね」 into one.

This can be used in both a questioning way, or as an alternative way to respond in agreement with someone.

Let’s look at each of these situations.

Using “yone”「よね」 as a question

When used in a questioning way, “yone”「よね」 means something like, “I think this. That’s right, isn’t it?”

That is, it’s used to say something fairly assertively, as if to say, “I think this is how things are”, but still seeks confirmation by asking, “I’m right, aren’t I?”

It implies we’re fairly confident about something, but not 100% certain and are therefore looking for reassurance.

For example:

This is effectively saying, “I think Taro has a girlfriend, but I’m not completely sure. He does, doesn’t he?”

That is, we’re saying what we think with some assertiveness, but we’re also asking the other person, “I’m right about that, aren’t I?”.

If we just used “yo”「よ」, and said, “tarō wa kanojo ga imasu yo”「太郎たろうは彼女かのじょがいますよ」, then we’re telling the other person, “Hey. Taro has a girlfriend. There’s no doubt about that.”

On the other hand, if we just used “ne”「ね」 and said, “tarō wa kanojo ga imasu ne”「太郎たろうは彼女かのじょがいますね」, then we’re really saying something that is true, and we think the other person will agree, “Yeah, that’s true. He does have a girlfriend.”

However, when we use both “yo”「よ」 and “ne”「ね」 together, and use our intonation to make it sound like a question, it adds a little bit more doubt. We’re saying what we think is true, but then we’re still seeking confirmation from the other person because we’re not entirely sure.

So where:

• “yo”「よ」 is very assertive and is used to state that something is true without a doubt, and
• “ne”「ね」 is used when saying something we think the other person will agree with,

“yone”「よね」 actually introduces more doubt.

It says, “I think this is true, but I’m actually not sure. Can you confirm that for me?”

Here’s another example:

Similar to the previous example, here we’re saying, “I think the interview is tomorrow. Is it?”

We’re stating what we think, but we’re not 100% certain, so we’re also seeking confirmation from the other person.

That’s the effect “yone”「よね」 has when used in a questioning way.

Using “yone”「よね」 as a response

We can also use “yone”「よね」 in response to somebody as an alternative way to express agreement.

When we do this, it can be interpreted as, “Yeah, that’s right. I do agree with that.”

In other words, we’re expressing our agreement, and doing so quite emphatically: “I agree – there’s no doubt you are right.”

As an example, if somebody said to us:

While this literally translates as, “this homework is bothersome,” a better translation would be, “this homework is a pain in the butt.”

One way we could respond to this is to say:

This is a lot like simply using “ne”「ね」 because we’re agreeing with what the other person is saying. The difference is that we’re saying it a bit more assertively or emphatically. We’re saying, “Yeah, that’s right. It is a pain in the butt.”

Just like the other examples of “yone”「よね」, we’re saying something that we think is true and saying it assertively, but this time, instead of using “ne”「ね」 to seek agreement or confirmation, we’re using it to express our agreement.

We could just use “ne”「ね」 alone to express our agreement in a very similar way, but adding “yo”「よ」 in a response like this shows that we strongly agree with the other person.

Key Takeaways

The particles “yo”「よ」 and “ne”「ね」 can be added to the end of a sentence to give it more emotion or personality. They can be added individually, or together as “yone”「よね」.

yoよ:

• Makes a statement more assertive or gives it emphasis
• Implies there is no doubt about what is being said
• Is often used when providing information that the other person or people don’t already know

neね:

• Is used to express or seek agreement
• Is similar to adding phrases like, “isn’t it?”, “right?”, or, “you know?” in English
• Is often mirrored in responses to a statement that also ends in “ne”「ね」

yoneよね:

• Is both assertive and expresses/seeks agreement
• Can be used as a question to imply we’re quite sure of something while still seeking confirmation
• Can be used in response as a more emphatic way to express agreement