だい？かい？

[adam]

I've been having a little trouble with this, and exactly where it is appropriate to use it. I'll give a few examples from the book i'm reading.

１）ここはいったい何だい？
２）　僕たちを守ってくれると思うのかい？
３）　ロンとハーマイオニーと練習してくれるかい？

Would these sentences be the same if you left off the final い？ Or does it add something like more emphasis. I know that the だ and か can also be omitted from these sentences, so is this just another add on? Is this is a spoken or written tool.

Thanks in advance to those who take the time to read answer my questions.

[paul_b]

adam wrote:
I've been having a little trouble with this, and exactly where it is appropriate to use it. I'll give a few examples from the book i'm reading.

１）ここはいったい何だい？
２）　僕たちを守ってくれると思うのかい？
３）　ロンとハーマイオニーと練習してくれるかい？

Would these sentences be the same if you left off the final い？ Or does it add something like more emphasis. I know that the だ and か can also be omitted from these sentences, so is this just another add on? Is this is a spoken or written tool.

Thanks in advance to those who take the time to read answer my questions.

Basically か is pretty rough when used in plain sentences. だい and かい are a bit less harsh. Note that かい is for yes/no questions while だい is for what/who/which type 'wh' questions.

[coco]

adamさん
「どうだい」スレッド ← クリックしてください。
これ役に立つかもしれません。
Hungryhoteiさんの他のご質問もadamさんの疑問と重なるかもしれません。

[Oyaji]

Right, it makes the sentence less formal and more intimate, and is used towards someone of equal or lower position, such as between friends, or from adult to child. It can be used in either a friendly way, 「君の名前は何だい。」or harshly 「知ったことかい。」

There are actually quite a few ways い can be used on the end of sentences, but だい and かい are the most common.

edited after seeing coco' post: Yes, the thread coco linked to has some good explanations.

[keatonatron]

And girls don't say it.

[two_heads_talking]

keatonatron wrote:
And girls don't say it.

dai or kai? i didn't hear kai used much from any male friends i had.. but girls used it alot .. now this could be unique to tohoku so, if that is the case it is just a prefectural dialect that i noticed.

[keatonatron]

two_heads_talking wrote:
dai or kai?

I have a male friend that uses both quite often, and I've heard both from male singers in songs. I've never heard a girl say either one.

Whenever I hear it it sounds old-fashioned and kind of manly to me. But I'm not Japanese so what do I know.

[two_heads_talking]

i guess it is different is each local.. of course the farming communities of tohoku have always had a more harsh language approach. i can't tell you how funny it is to be talking to obaasan and hearing her say "Ore ga ne, nani mo dekinai mono da be cha." that'll wake you up in the morning.. lol