Friday, March 31, 2017

What does the sentence ending particle や mean?


Out of all sentence ending particles, I cannot really pinpoint what や means. I don't meet it often (or maybe I don't have enough experience or exposure) and in situations which don't really explain themselves. Also, is it a real particle anyway?


Some examples I recently found (from books):



「くつろいでくれや」


「それが実はアイロンではないからや」



I hope those examples make sense without the context. I know that those kind of particles are hard to explain but any explanation is welcome.




Answer



We are actually discussing TWO different kinds of 「や」 here, which is probably why you are more confused than you should be.


In 「くつろいでくれや」, the 「や」 is a colloquial sentence-ending particle for 1) imperative, 2) invitation and 3) request. You are saying "(Please) make yourself at home."


In 「それが実はアイロンではないからや」, the 「や」 is a dialectal sentence-ender mostly for Kansai. It expresses affirmation and it is the equivalent of 「だ」 in Standard Japanese. "That is because it really is not an iron."


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