Particle “BE” – The forgotten particle of the Japanese language

Did you know that among the numerous particles of the Japanese language, there are those that are not very well known, but that, despite being rare, occasionally still appear in newspapers, games, manga, or during our studies of the language? One example of this is the particle べ (be), which we will see in more detail throughout this article.

Uses and meanings

If you already have some knowledge of the language, you probably know that each particle in Japanese has a function and/or an idea to be conveyed in the sentence in which it is inserted. The particle で (de), for example, indicates the location or the means by which an action is performed, while the particle に (ni) indicates the direction (although it has many other uses) or for what purpose an action is done, and so on…

The particle べ (be), on the other hand, is a type of particle known as a “sentence-ending particle” – similar to the particles な、ね、わ、ぜ、ぞ、よ (na, ne, wa, ze, zo, yo) – and it comes from specific dialects, being more commonly seen in Tohoku (northern region of Japan) and in Kanto.

It basically has three functions: to indicate speculation (uncertainty), to indicate a desire, and/or to suggest an invitation.

In many sentences, it is possible to observe the presence of the particles さ, よ and か (sa, yo and ka) after the particle べ (be), forming the pairs べさ (besa), べか (beka) or べえか (beeka) and べよ (beyo).

Example sentences

Let’s look below at some example sentences with the particle be (べ):

Vocabulary

• 助詞 (じょし, joshi) = Particle.
• 例文 (れいぶん, reibun) = Example Sentences.
• 日本語 (にほんご, nihongo) = Japanese Language.
• 言語 (げんご, gengo) = Language.
• 言葉 (ことば, kotoba) = Word.
• 語彙 (ごい, goi) = Vocabulary.

Note: This article may be updated according to new information that arrives regarding this grammatical particle.

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