Male/Female Speech

As opposed to polite speech, which is mostly gender-neutral, casual speech has many constructions that make it sound masculine or feminine to varying degrees. Of course, you do not have to be a specific gender to use either masculine or feminine manners of speech but you do need to be aware of the differences and the impression it gives to the listener. The first example of this is how 「ね」 and 「よ」 are used in casual speech.

Declarative 「だ」

The declarative 「だ」 is attached to nouns and na-adjectives to give it a more declarative tone and make the state-of-being explicit. This is important in some grammatical forms we will cover later. For now, we can use it in casual Japanese to give a more definitive, confident, and somewhat masculine tone. For males, in particular, it is important to use it before 「ね」 or 「よ」 to avoid sounding too feminine.

Note: Only attach 「だ」 to nouns and na-adjectives. Never to i-adjectives.

Example

1. 日本語 【に・ほん・ご】 - Japanese language
2. 上手 【じょう・ず】(na-adj) - skillful, good at
3. 楽しい 【たの・しい】(i-adj) - fun

1. 日本語は、上手ね。
   As for Japanese, (you're) good at it, aren't you? (feminine)
2. 日本語は、上手だね。
   As for Japanese, (you're) good at it, aren't you? (masculine)
3. 日本語は、楽しいよ。
   As for Japanese, (it's) fun, you know. (gender-neutral as 「だ」 cannot be used for i-adjectives)

The homework is easy!

1. 宿題 【しゅく・だい】 (n) - homework
2. 難しい 【むずか・しい】 (i-adj) - difficult
3. 簡単 【かん・たん】 (na-adj) - easy
4. うーん - umm
5. 多分 【た・ぶん】 - probably; maybe
6. どっち - which one; which way

アリス： 宿題は、難しい？
Alice: As for homework, (is it) difficult?

ジョン： 簡単だよ！
John: It's easy!

アリス： 本当？
Alice: Really?

ジョン： うーん、多分難しいよ。
John: Umm, (it's) probably difficult.

アリス： どっちよ。
Alice: Which is it?

Because John is male, he decides to use 「だ」 with 「よ」 with the na-adjective 「簡単」. However, regardless of gender, you cannot use 「だ」 with i-adjectives so he says 「難しいよ」. 「難しいだよ」 is grammatically incorrect.