Not to be confused with the wa は topic-marker, which is spelled with ha は but read wa わ.
Usage
Like other sentence-ending particles, wa わ goes at the very end of phrases and adds a nuance that can't be easily translated to English.- kore wa sugoi
これはすごい
This is amazing. - kore wa sugoi wa
これはすごいわ
This is amazing.
See the article about sentence-ending particles for details.
It's normally used when the speaker wants to affirm what they feel. To express their opinion or conclusion about something.
- muri da wa!
無理だわ！
It's impossible. (a conclusion.)
Some resources will say it expresses "admiration," or eitan 詠嘆, but it's usage is closer to a neutral "exclamation." The wa わ can be used to exclaim something that's not admirable, for example.
- saitei na kuzu da wa
最低なクズだわ
[He's] the worst scum. (an opinion.)
Since it expresses an exclamation, it can be translated to English as a literal exclamation mark.(Matsumura, 1969:676, cited in Petersson, 2010)
- sou da wa
そうだわ
That's right!
It's also used to assert an idea as true, specially when correction someone else.
- watashi desu
私です
It's me. - watashi desu wa
私ですわ
It's me.- Make no mistake: it's me and nobody else!
Not Hortative
The wa わ particle is only used to express the speaker's own ideas. It can't be used to command someone else to do something.(Matsumura, 1969:676-677, cited in Petersson, 2010)- *nigemashou wa
逃げましょうわ
(nope.) - *nigero wa
逃げろわ
(nope.) - *nigete wa
逃げてわ
(nope.) - *nigenaide wa
逃げないでわ
(nope.)
In some cases, the speaker expressing her intention to do something can be interpreted as an invitation to join her in doing it. For example:
- nigeru wa
逃げるわ
[I'll] run away. (a decision.)
[We'll] run away.
[Let's] run away.
Above, the wa わ implies that nigeru, "to run away," is the speaker's decision, or it clarifies what she'll do next: she'll "run away." Depending on the situation, it can be interpreted what she and whoever she's talking with are going to do. By contrast:
- nigeru
逃げる
To run away.- A phrase without sentence-ending particles doesn't express how the speaker feels, which can sound odd in certain situations.
- nigeru ne
逃げるね
[We'll] run away, right?- This phrase seeks confirmation about an intention, rather than asserting the speaker's decision.
Female Particle
The wa わ particle is predominantly used by women. It's said to have a "softening" effect on phrases, and soft equals girly, so girls use it, not men. By contrast, particles like zo ぞ are said to be "crude," so men use it, not women. (Ochs, cited in Cook, 1987)This soft-crude feminine-masculine axis is also associated with polite-impolite. For example, men don't use crude masculine particles in formal contexts because they sound impolite.
In anime, the wa わ particle is notably often used by ojousama お嬢様 characters, "rich girls" who are supposed to be refined.
Usage by Men
The wa わ particle can also be used by men, in which case it usually exclaims an emotion such as surprise. Since it's a softening, feminine particle, it implies the speaker is trying to be somewhat polite in his exclamation, otherwise he could've just used a crude male particle instead.- ore wa shinjiru wa
俺は信じるわ
I believe. - ore wa samui wa
俺は寒いわ
I'm cold.
There's another hint that this male wa わ is meant to be merely slightly polite. The female wa わ can be combined with the polite masu ます, forming masu wa ますわ. However, the male wa わ isn't combined with masu ます.(Martin, 2004:920, cited in Petersson, 2010)
In other words, the male speaker says wa わ when he thinks the phrase would otherwise lack politeness. If he's using masu, he's already speaking politely, so there's no point in adding the softening wa わ.
Intonation
Although the wa わ particle is always spelled as just wa わ, there's a difference in how it's pronounced depending on usage.In particular, wa わ with a rising intonation is only used by women.(Hanaoka McGloin, 2005:230, cited in Petersson, 2010)
Basically, the wa わ particle has at least two distinct functions according to how it's pronounced. In some dictionaries it's three distinct functions.
These functions are related, they're more or less the same thing, but they're still different things.[は - 精選版 日本国語大辞典 via kotobank.jp, accessed 2019-06-30]
- Expressing an opinion, decision, a correction.
Rising intonation.
Used by women.
Presses an idea against the listener. - Express surprise, conclusion, explanation.
Falling intonation.
Used by both genders.
Merely clarifies an idea.
So, normally, the wa わ particle a guy uses is the second one, not the first one, which would inadvertently sound feminine. There are cases the first one is used, however, like as a form of gender expression. In anime, this occurs when you have an okama オカマ character.
Compounds
The wa わ particle can be combined with other sentence-ending particles. For example:- wa ne わね
Exclaims one's opinion and seeks agreement.- muzukashii wa ne
難しいわね
[It's] difficult, isn't it?
- muzukashii wa ne
- wa yo わよ
Exclaims one's opinion and calls attention to it.
In particular, it can be used when correcting someone and contradicting something absurd..- urusai wa yo!
うるさいわよ！
[You're] annoying! - aru wa yo
あるわよ
[It] exists.
- urusai wa yo!
The wa わ is used as an affirmation, so it can't combine with ka か, which expresses a question. It can combine with ne ね and na な, because those particles are used to confirm the affirmation with the listener, e.g. "isn't it? Isn't that so?"
The wa わ is soft (feminine), so it doesn't combine with crude (masculine) particles like ze ぜ and zo ぞ.
The function with a rising intonation can come after copulas and the masu suffix.
- da wa だわ
- da wa yo だわよ
- da wa ne だわね
- desu wa ですわ
- desu wa yo ですわよ
- desu wa ne ですわね
- masu wa ますわ
- masu wa yo ますわよ
- masu wa ne ますわね
The function with a falling intonation can not, and can only come after a verb in plain form or i-adjective.
- suru wa するわ
(either intonation, so either function, either speaker gender.) - shimasu wa しますわ
(only rising intonation, so only female speaker.)
こんにちわ
The phrase kon'nichi wa こんにちわ is a typo. The correct spelling is:- kon'nichi wa こんにちは
(with the wa は topic-marker, not the wa わ sentence-ending particle.)
Such typos are made even by natives. Some are even deliberate, as some people think it's cuter spelling it that way.[｢こんにちは｣と｢こんにちわ｣ - ameblo.jp/kokugonosensei-nana, accessed 2019-06-30]
This one is fairly obvious because kon'nichi wa is supposed to be an abbreviation of a longer phrase, like:
- kon'nichi wa go-kigen ikaga desu ka?
こんにちはご機嫌いかがですか
As for today, [your] humor how is?
How are [you] today?
Sometimes it's not so obvious, so it's important to keep in mind that a wa わ may be a wa は sometimes too.
For example, watashi wa 私ゎ is pretty clearly deliberately misspelled. Some people don't even know how to type the small wa わ like that.
Conversely, konnichi ha こんにちは is a valid Japanese-style romaji for konnichi wa.
わ vs. は
Historically, the particles wa わ and wa は are related, but in a rather complicated way.To begin with, in a sense, the sentence-ending particle wa わ comes from the topic-marker wa は. [わ - デジタル大辞泉 via dictionary.goo.ne.jp, accessed 2019-36-29]
But in order to understand this, first we need to know why the topic-marker wa は read as wa わ even though it's spelled with ha は.
Basically, in the past, this thing "は" was pronounced just like wa わ is pronounced in modern Japanese. For example, the word "river," kawa 川, would be spelled, in the past, as kaha かは, but would be pronounced as kawa かわ.
Similarly, he へ used to be pronounced as e え.
After a language reform, the way to pronounce は changed from wa to ha. This means the reason the particles wa は and e へ are pronounced differently is because they're pronounced in the archaic way, while literally every other Japanese word is now spelled and pronounced the modern way.
This also means that, in the past, the sentence-ending particle wa わ was actually spelled "は" just like the topic-marker.
- (I'm not writing the romaji for this excerpt because this dates to the 11th century and I wouldn't know if the pronunciation is right.)
- 源氏（1001‐14頃）紅梅「はかばかしき御後見なくては、いかがとて、北のかた、そひてさぶらひ給は」
- Yep, that last は is a sentence-ending particle. [は - 精選版 日本国語大辞典 via kotobank.jp, accessed 2019-06-30]
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