The Particle など・なんか
In this lesson, we will learn about the adverbial particles など and なんか.
The Adverbial Particle など1
The adverbial particle など is used to give related examples, appearing after nouns as well as verbal predicates, translating into English as “etc.,” which also indicates how など itself does not necessarily create the list but concludes a list. When the need arises the glue that forms the list is handled by the particle や.
1. 私は休日は雑誌を読むなどして過ごしました。
I spent the holidays doing stuff like reading magazines.
2. 東京やニューヨーク市などの大都市には大勢の人が住んでいます。
A lot of people live in metropolises such as Tokyo and New York City.
3. 音楽やビデオゲームなどが若者に愛用されている。
Things such as music and video game are cherished by young people.
4. お茶・砂糖・塩など
Tea, sugar, salt and so on
5. レモンやミカンやタンジェリンなどの果物を買い集めた。
I bought up fruits such as lemons, mandarin oranges, and tangerines.
6. 彼など適任者だね。
Someone like him is suitable, right?
7. このパソコンなどお買い得です。
Something like this personal computer is a bargain.
8. ヨーロッパの信用不安で海外経済が減速していることなどが影響している。
Events such as overseas economies decelerating due to uneasiness of confidence in Europe are taking an effect.
9. 私はテレビでアニメなどは見ません。
I don’t watch things like anime on TV.
10. 休暇中に洗濯せんたくや掃除そうじなどしなくてもいい。
It’s alright to not do laundry, cleaning, and such during vacation.
11. 泣いてなどいられない。
I can’t just be crying or the like.
12. 今さら行くなどと2言ってももう遅いよ。
Even if you say you’re going to go now, you’re already late.
13. 甲冑なども精巧に出来ている。
Things like the armor are also exquisitely made.
The Adverbial particle なんか
A colloquial variant of など, the adverbial particle なんか mostly appears after individual complements of a sentence.
As far as coexistence with other particles is concerned, when など・なんか appear after subjects and direct objects, the case particles が・を that would respectively be present do not appear in the surface structure of the sentence. For other case particles, however, do coexist and appear before など・なんか, as the emphatic role these adverbial particles play encompasses the phrase + the information encoded by those case particles.
14. こりゃなんかええじゃん？ (Casual)
Isn’t something like this OK?
15. 彼女になんか会わなければよかった。
If I had somehow not met her, it would have been good.
16. 表彰なんか受けたくもねーし。
I don’t want any public acknowledgement.
17. 「ああ、佐伯あさっちゃんのところに行ったの。あんなヤツの言うことなんか、嘘っぱちだよ」
“Ahh, Sahaku went to Satchan’s place? What that guy says is a downright lie.
From 『冷たい誘惑』 by 乃南アサ.
Dialectical Variants: なんど・なぞ・なんぞ
Other variants of the particle など include なんぞ3, なぞ4, due to how voiced consonants were once always accompanied with pre-nasalization. This also explains the presence of the dialectal variant なんど5.
18. ガキ同士のなつき合いなぞ、退屈ではないか。
Two brats gettin’ all affectionate with each other’d would be uninteresting, no?
19. 病気なぞしてたまるか。
There is absolutely no way I’m going to get ill!
20. それを釣瓶なんどに植えて。
Plant it in a well bucket or the like.
From 『魔法修行者』by 露伴.
- The particle など may seldom be seen spelled in kanji as 等, and even more rarely as 抔. ↩︎
- Interestingly enough, because the quotative particle と is actually built into the particle など, などと is technically grammatical redundant. However, because native speakers no longer perceive it as its etymological breakdown, the quotative particle と does not get ellipsed when a citation verb immediately follows など. ↩︎
- The combination of the interrogative pronoun なに and the adverbial particle ぞ, when utilized in Standard Modern Japanese discourse, it tends to sound more masculine and colloquial despite its longstanding history in the language. However, examples of it from the early 1900s shows that its colloquial tone is a relatively new feel of the variant as it fades out of use. ↩︎
- なぞ is the direct descendent of なんぞ, losing the nasalization provided by ん. ↩︎
- なんど is the combination of the interrogative pronoun なに and the quotative particle と, and its direct descendent is など, losing the nasalization provided by ん. ↩︎