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- "That is right, isn't it?"
"That is right, isn't it?"
Translation:そうですよね？
33 Comments
I was taught that そうですね meant "let me think" or something to that effect when the speaker is asked a question. Isn't そうですか more appropriate as a translation?
There are many translations for the exact same thing in Japanese. The language is very context dependent. そうですね Can mean both things depending on the context.
I think そうですか would be better translated to "Is that right?" or "Is that so?".
I agree with the そうですね part, however, the original sentence has a よ added in, to make it そうですよね, which I think changes it to "That is right, isn't it?"
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I just looked it up, and unfortunately, MIA was discontinued since September 2020.
Good news is that one of the people behind MIA just launched "Refold languages" which is another language learning site.
Yes and no。 ね is more of an interrigative term、much like 呢 in Mandarin Chinese。
I learned that the "ne" particle is used to make your sentence a bit more firm and not so strict.. Like if someone is a bit embarrassed to say something or just not sure whether to say it or not he would say for example.. "This dress is pretty, isn't it?" But if he was confident about it, he would say.. "This dress is pretty" only without "isn't it", as for japanease he just wouldn't use the "ne" particle
I hope this helps someone : )
Yes; if you use both よ and ね at the end, they always stay in that order.
This is an excellent resource on the subject of よ and ね endings: https://www.punipunijapan.com/japanese-particles-yo-ne/
Okay this is another one that annoys me. If I hear the English "that is right, isn't it?" then it sounds like you're asking if something is correct. For that I'd expect 合ってるよね or 正しいよね but if you want to translate そうですね it's more like, "yeah, I know!" It's acknowledging and agreeing with someone as part of the flow of a conversation and "that is right, isn't it?" isn't a good translation, especially out of context.
I am a newbie, so I am sincerely curious about this. Dave888724, your sentence そうですね omits the よ before the ね, as do one or two other comments above. Can you tell me what the difference in meaning is with and without the よ? I hope this isn't a dumb question.
From what I understand, the difference is so nuanced that for a beginner, knowing it really isn't that big of a deal. Also, considering the fact that both よ and ね don't really come up outside of conversational Japanese so even most natives wouldn't be able to pin down an exact difference.
It wouldn't. そうです is close to "That's right" and a question like そうですか would mean like "Is that so?"
So does the "yo-ne" at the end give the speaker sound like they want to confirm but are sure they are correct?
If I'm mistaking the meanings, what does this actially come across as and what do each come across as separately?
I compare ね with eh in "Canadian" (not that we actually use it a lot in the west) so I also like the idea of よ when translated as "you know" but it's described as used when you think it's new info to the listener To me "you know" is like don't you know or you should know So I'm less confident using it
か makes it a genuine question "Is that right?" You don't know if that is right or not and you are looking for an answer
ね is a softened statement seeking agreement from the listener "Isn't it?" You believe that it is right and you are seeking confirmation that you are correct
You wouldn't use both. That's like saying "Is that right, isn't it?" which doesn't make sense
ああ そうですか? [Troll face]
I want my 1 Duolingo point back! Literally nobody's gonna care whether you say そうですね, そうですよね or そうですか. None of them have any useful meaning and in conversation they're basically a way of saying 'I'm still listening'.
Other times it's more of an 'O RLY?' For example my daughter was abducted to Japan. Whenever I visit I've gotta go through him during the handover period and he's a real pain in the such and such. His canned response for any comment I make about him obstructing my parental access or being unreasonable in negotiations is 'ああ そうですか?' He is not agreeing with me or making a commitment to anything. Rather, he's saying 'okay that's your opinion... I heard you but I'm not gonna do anything about it'.
Sigh... I doubt I will ever say そうですよね.
i find the fact that it requires you to add the よ when it's completely unclear from the english sentence to be quite frustrating. it forces you to remember that this specific question requires a specific answer even though a different answer would make just as much, if not more sense.
