Hiragana: Lesson 24 - ‘ね’ [ne]

Pronunciation:
‘ね’ is romanized 'ne'. And pronounced like ‘ney’ and/or ‘neighbor’.

Words with ‘ね’:
’’ね’ at the beginning:

• 眠る / ねむる (nemuru -> sleep)
• 眠い / ねむい (nemui -> sleepy)
• 猫 / ねこ (neko -> cat)
• 熱 / ねつ (netsu -> fever) 
• ねぎ (negi -> green onion)
• ねずみ (nezumi -> mouse)
• 妬ましい / ねたましい (netamashii -> jealous; envious)
• 値段 / ねだん (nedan -> price)
• 願う / ねがう (negau -> hope; wish; desire; request)
• 年 / ねん (nen -> year)

‘ね’ in the middle:

• 微熱 / びねつ (binetsu -> slight fever)
• 中年 / ちゅねん (chunen -> middle-aged)
• 跳ねる / はねる (haneru -> to bounce; jump; hop)
• 居眠り / いねむり (inemuri -> snooze; doze)
• 金持ち / かねもち (kanemochi -> (rich; rich man; affluent)
• 記念 / きねん (kinen -> memorial; commemoration)
• 残念 / ざんねん (zannen -> shame; regret; disappointment; bad luck)
• 少年 / しょうねん (shounen -> boy)
• 半円 / はんねん (hannen -> semicircle)

‘ね’ at the end:

• 胸 / むね (mune -> chest)
• 骨 / ほね (hone -> bone)
• 姉 / あね (ane -> older sister)
• 船 / ふね (fune -> ship; boat)
• めがね (megane -> glasses)
• 羽 / はね (hane -> feather)
• 跳ね / はね (hane -> splashes)
• 半値 / はんね (hanne -> half price)
• 針金 / はりがね (harigane -> wire)

’ね’ as a Gobi 
Gobi (語尾) litteraly means ‘Language Tail’ and it simply refers to anything that comes at the end of a sentence or a word. ね is one of the two most commonly used language tail beside よ.
People usually add ね to the end of their sentence when they are looking for or expecting agreement to what they are saying. This is equivalent to say, “Right?” or “Isn’t it?”

Example:

• あなたは賢いよね / あなたはかしこいよね (Anata wa kashikoi yo ne -> You’re pretty smart, aren’t you?)
• あの少女はかわいいですね / あのしょうじょはかわいいですね (Ano shoujo wa kawaii desu ne -> That little girl is cute, isn’t she?)

Stroke order:



______________

Note: You may mistake ぬ with ね at times since they look quite similar. Just imagine you see the character 'え' in 'ね'. And 'U' in 'ぬ'.



When you come to one of these letters and you are stuck how the are supposed to be read or write. Remember these to take you off the trouble 

Task: You shall write ‘ね’ 50 - 100 times in your textbook. And remember! Memorize the shape, the stroke order, the sound, the pronunciation (echo the sound of the character each time you write it down), etc.
And after you are done with that, write ‘な’, ‘に’, ‘ぬ’, and ‘ね’ one after each repetitively (な, に, ぬ, ね, etc.) 50 times (100 if you have time).

______________

Kaoko: Having finished with our lesson, we have a special guest for today!
And her name is...
Sumiregowa Nenenenenene!!



Nenene: あたしは ねねね. 菫川ねねね! It’s only three nes!

Kaoko: G-gomen ... Sensei is a famous writer. For Nenene, her writing is everything. She began her career as a child prodigy, making her literary debut at the age of 13 and winning a prize as Japan's most promising young writer. Nenene's works sell extremely well, both in Japan and abroad, at least as long as she can keep writing them. When she is in the writing groove, Nenene works fast and intensely...


Nenene: Mou, Kairu.

*Walks away*

Kaoko: ! Matte, Nenene-sensei !