# word final "ja"



## YangMuye

The sentence is 
A: ちょっと頼み事(が?)あるだけじゃ。
B: 頼み事っていうのは？

I heard it in an anime and it may not be standard 標準語. But I'm not sure.
Does this  じゃ = だ or では?

よろしくおねがいします。


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## YangMuye

I think it means だ, because I have also heard のじゃ, じゃぞ

Is it modern Japanese?


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## Δημήτρης

Since it's sentence final, I believe this is a case of regional copula. Like や which is Kansai dialect for だ, じゃ is used at some other parts of Japan.
You may also hear じゃろう for だろう.


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## Strutter

じゃ =　だ amd is modern but informal. This is not a case of regional copula.

It's not necessary to use じゃ instead of だ but many pepole use it. Why? It's difficult for me to explain ...

At least, this is one of the meanings.
If you say ～じゃ,which means, I am older/highre. 

SO ... in the anime, was he older or on a high position?


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## almostfreebird

If I hear someone say "~じゃ" in real life, it sounds affected and not natural.


Only in some movies or anime if a very old man/womwn said "~じゃ", it would 

sound natural.

For example, Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings would likely to say "~じゃ" 

naturally n Japanese.(Gandalf　http://usera.ImageCave.com/almostfreebird/gandalf-hippy.jpg


例文：

Gandalf: They are one; the ring and the Dark Lord. Frodo, he must never find it. （それらは　ひとつじゃ；　指輪と暗黒の王は一緒なのじゃ。　フロド、決して　彼の手にわたっては　いかんのじゃ！）

Frodo: All right. We'll put it away. We'll keep it hidden, we'll never speak of it again.（わかった。　僕たち　その指輪どっかにしまって隠しておくよ、そして二度とそのことは口にしない。）


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## YangMuye

> SO ... in the anime, was he older


She does not look old because she is a 幽霊.


> or on a high position?


She was once a 姫様. She called herself 妾(わらわ).



Thank all of you. みなさんありがとうございます


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## almostfreebird

In 岡山(Okayama) area, you'd hear people say "~じゃ" regardless of age, it's a dialect.


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## Tsukigalleta

Does      じゃない come from じゃ as well? What about  じゃん? The first one is            ではない if I'm not mistaken, but I don't know the meaning of the other... Is it じゃない or < *～*なの>? 

These are very very common words in manga. So common that I thought people used them often too. But at least じゃない is indeed common, am I wrong?


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## Strutter

NO,NO ～じゃない doesn't come from ~じゃ.

~じゃない came from , you said, ~ではない.
~じゃん?　came from ~ではないか?、～じゃないか?、~じゃない？

~じゃない, ～じゃねえ or ～じゃん is very very very common and informal expression of young pepole. I think your comic characters are prpbably young.


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## Tsukigalleta

Strutter said:


> NO,NO ～じゃない doesn't come from ~じゃ.
> 
> ~じゃない came from , you said, ~ではない.
> ~じゃん?　came from ~ではないか?、～じゃないか?、~じゃない？
> 
> ~じゃない, ～じゃねえ or ～じゃん is very very very common and informal expression of young pepole. I think your comic characters are prpbably young.


Hahahaaa!! Ok, ok, Strutter-san , it doesn't come from じゃ. Yeah, they are usually either young or talking to someone younger. Thanks for the meaning of ~じゃん, it was sooo difficult to know it !!


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