ね

ね U+306D, ね HIRAGANA LETTER NE ← ぬ [U+306C] Hiragana の → [U+306E]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ne̞]

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 祢 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

ね • (ne) 

1. The hiragana syllable ね (ne). Its equivalent in katakana is ネ (ne). It is the twenty-fourth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is な行え段 (na-gyō e-dan, “row na, section e”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, ゆゅ, よょ, ら, り, る, れ, ろ, わゎ, ゐ, ゑ, を, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

Probably related to ない (nai), as negative forms cross-linguistically are commonly used as confirmation particles.

Particle

ね • (ne) 

1. (after a phrase) emphasis and question marker particle; asks for confirmation; right?; eh?; isn't it, innit?

   あなたは頭(あたま)がいいね。

   Anata wa atama ga ii ne.

   You’re smart, aren’t you.

   格(かっ)好(こう)いいですね。

   Kakkō ii desu ne.

   That’s pretty neat, eh?

   「ダメ。」「だよねー」

   “Dame.”“Da yo nē”

   "No." "Yeah, I thought so."

2. (after -te, or sometimes -te kudasai) particle that softens a request, or conveys friendliness; okay?; please?

   頑(がん)張(ば)ってね。

   Ganbatte ne.

   Do your best.

   気(き)を付(つ)けてくださいね。

   Ki o tsukete kudasai ne.

   Please be careful, okay?

3. meaningless filler particle, which may also have a softening effect when introducing information; well...; you see...

Usage notes

Sense 1 is used at such a frequency that it is often absent in a normal English translation, instead expressed with general inflection of voice, or context. It can also imply agreement or the statement of a fact inferred from a situation's appearance, similar to English apparently. A common usage of it is in conjunction with particle さ (sa), as よね (yo ne).

Sense 3 is similar to filler particle さ (sa) in usage and placement, but is different in that it sounds more gentle, and also can be used in more polite situations (e.g. the common filler usage of ですね (desu ne), where です (desu) becomes part of the filler particle, and ignores its own grammatical meaning and usual syntax). It is especially used when making statements directly to or about people so as not to be assumptive and thus rude.

Synonyms

• な (na)

See also

• か (ka)
• さ (sa)

Interjection

ね • (ne) 

1. (informal, begins sentences) used to catch listener’s attention; hey

   ね、知(し)ってる？

   Ne, shitteru?

   Hey, did you know?

2. (informal, women's speech, see sense 1 above) I know, right?
3. (informal, women's speech, see sense 2 above) please?

Synonyms

• ねえ (nē), ねぇ (nē)

Etymology 3

For pronunciation and definitions of ね – see the following entries.

【子】1 [proper noun] (Chinese astrology) Rat, the first of the twelve Earthly Branches: [proper noun] north [proper noun] the hours between 11:00 P.M./midnight and 1:00/2:00 A.M. [proper noun] a day or year assigned to the Rat [proper noun] the eleventh month of the lunar calendar [proper noun] a place name [syllable] (obsolete) variant katakana syllable ネ (ne) [until the 19th century]

【音】1 [noun] [from late 900s] a sound, voice [noun] [from 712] the cry of an animal Alternative spelling 哭

【根】3 [noun] [from 712] a root of a plant [noun] [from 720] (by extension) the source or root of something [noun] [from 1000] the cause or basis for something [noun] [from mid-1300s] one's nature, the character one has by birth

【値】6 [noun] price, cost Alternative spelling 直

【寝】S [noun] sleep, sleeping [verb] stem or continuative form of 寝る (neru)

【峰】S [noun] summit of a mountain, peak Alternative spellings 峯, 嶺

(This term, ね (ne), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as ね, see Category:Japanese kanji read as ね.)