Gender differences in "da" use

[Perumanta]

Hi everyone.

I'm new to this forum, so I'm very sorry if this question has already been asked before. I tried to look around first.

I wanted to know how normal it is for women to use 'da', 'nda', 'da yo', etc. and any other variations you can think of at the end of sentences. Textbooks will always teach you somewhat restricted uses for these based upon whether you are a man or a woman, so I wanted to know what the reality was for this particular grammatical point based upon gender in Japan.

I heard there are some implications, like a woman would appear more manly. I guess this would go along with 'wa' with the implication of appearing more girly? I've only been to Japan once and only interacted with my host parents, so I'm very sorry if I'm getting this completely wrong. I've been studying Japanese for a couple years but I'm interested in learning more grammatical nuances (as well as kanji, of course), and if anyone here could help, it would be appreciated.

Also, if anyone is willing to communicate and practice Japanese, I would also be up for that.

Rosario

[Debezo]

In most cases, it is normal for women to use 'da'. in some cases, it sounds a bit masculine. for instance,
'dane', 'dayo', 'dayone' are clearly ok. but 'dana', 'daro' sound masculine.
In the short sentence such as "a, inu da", "sou nanda", it's ok. but In the long sentece, it sounds a bit rude. it's hardly used in daily conversation whether men or women. though ok in a discussion or in a writing.
The sentence which has 'command' meaning such as "dame da", "...bekida", sounds masculine.
well, I have no brief answer, but good teacher will come soon.

And 'wa' sentence rather sounds like (old-fashioned) lady than girly. It is only used in something like tv dramas and movies now. "...dawa" sounds a bit theatrical to me except for some dialect. In the dialect (especially in kansai dialect), it is not a gender specific sentence. women and men both use it.

[neveragain]

I would really like more of an answer to this because this is really interesting to me...

[0Kurisu0]

Well, from my experience (2 years of basic japanese u.uUU) I think one of the most important differences is the pronunciation, the time you let ring the last vowel. You know, more time, more "femenine", less time, more "masculine". It's hard to explain xD

But I'm probably wrong o.o

[MMM]

Originally Posted by neveragain

I would really like more of an answer to this because this is really interesting to me...

That was a pretty thorough answer...what else to you want to know?

[Wasabista]

In cases where men would say "da yo," "da na," etc. women will tend to say "na no" or "no" for example:

Men: Dame da zo, Dame da yo, Dame da
Women: Dame da yo, Dame na no, Dame na no yo

Men: Ikenai yo, Ikenai zo, Ikenai'n da yo
Women: Ikenai no yo, Ikenai wa yo, Ikenai wa

(In my experience women end sentences with "wa" sometimes but not nearly as much as on TV)