[adds emphasis]
Structure
- Sentence + よ
[Used when conveying new information to the listener]
sentence-ending particle
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Not a question about the “よ”, but for this example…
…should it really be “を” in “お風呂を”? Wouldn’t that be “the bath is raising”? Should it be “から” or “に”?
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を doesn’t typically mark subjects, but it can mark the starting point of an intransitive action and then the meaning is similar to から (like in 家を出る leave the house). I believe から works too in this sentence.
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@GregX999
Like @nekoyama says, を can indicate the location where motion begins and can also mark a movement through some area.
から can be also used, but if the goal/destination of motion is stated, から is better than を.
Example:
家を出る
to leave house
空を飛ぶ
to fly through the sky.
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In response to someone who asked, 今日、何曜日ですか, wouldn’t it be kind of rude to say, 今日は水曜日ですよ？ I know that it’s “new information,” but for some reason have the impression that in this case, it’d be sort of presumptuous to present it as such. More generally, when should one refrain from using よ？
I think this situation is one of the least rude ways to use よ, assuming the question is sincere and the person asking really doesn’t know the answer. よ expresses that the speaker has more knowledge or authority. It’s easy to interpret that as presumptuous, but another way to look at it is that in this sentence the よ emphasises that the speaker actually knows what they’re talking about. When answering a request for information, that’s a good thing.
I find that when よ is rude, it’s often not directly because of the “new information” nuance. Of course that’s possible too, but but it’s much easier to be rude with よ in other ways. For example, let’s say we get used to agreeing to propositions from friends by saying something like いいよ. Then, one day, our boss asks us to do something and we reply いいですよ - acting as if we actually had a say in which requests from our boss we accept. (The correct answer would be something like わかりました. We do not answer requests from the boss from a point of view of whether they suit our convenience or not.)
Apart from that trap, in general, よ is probably the least rude when talking about facts that do not include people. Especially if it’s a topic we’re obviously more qualified to talk about. In that case the よ carries a sense of confirmation. Even in a situation where the other party obviously also knows the answer, and maybe even indicated that with a ね, if we’re more qualified, then confirming their information is not rude; it’s probably exactly what they were hoping we would do.
If people are included, it’s still not very rude when it’s facts about other people. For example if I’m relating what someone else said or did, the よ can emphasise that I saw or heard them. It’s not saying “I’m smarter”, it’s saying “this is good information”.
If I’m talking about a group that includes me, the potential for rudeness goes up a bit. Like in the above example with the superior, the me-group might have all the facts but might not actually be in a position of authority. And the smaller the group is, the more of that presumption falls back on the speaker.
If the group also includes the person we’re talking to, the potential goes up even more. For example, we can use よ when suggesting something the group should do like in 帰ろうよ. This isn’t necessarily rude, but in this kind of situation the よ emphasises that we think that’s the correct thing to do. And again, the smaller the group is, the more important we make our own opinion sound, so this has the most potential for rudeness if it’s only us and the person we’re talking to.
And then of course if the group doesn’t include us at all and we’re just assuming authority over information about the person we’re talking to, that has biggest potential for rudeness. But even then it’s not automatically rude. Requests also fall in this category. E.g. adding よ after ください can turn a polite request into a statement of what we think is the correct behaviour.
Another constellation where よ can easily sound rude is when complaining about something. Like when you saw this comment and your first thought was また長いやつかよ!!. But it’s a complaint without the よ too. So if this is rude, it’s not like it’s only because of the よ. It just makes the speaker’s frustration more apparent.
On the flip side of all this, leaving out a よ where it would be natural can also be perceived as rude. Without these particles, the conversation becomes colder. Not just robot like but we’re also maintaining more distance. In a situation where distance is not appropriate, that can be perceived as rude.
I think there is no easy way to learn when to use よ. It’s another one of those things we have to get used to by observing how other people use it. But I hope this comment can still be somewhat helpful by showing that what よ expresses is often not just simply an information advantage by itself.
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