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2.4.1. What is the no da or n da ending?

N is a contraction of no. No da or no desu after a verb, i adjective, or copula is often used to emphasize the previous statement. For example

atsui n da 暑いんだ, "It's hot."

Isha na no da 医者なのだ, "He's a doctor."

Another usage of no is in the phrase XXX no da, meaning "you should XXX". This is used both in positive (iku n da!, "You should go", or just "Go!"), and in the negative (fuzakeru n ja nai!, "you shouldn't joke around", or just "stop joking around!"). This no is used very commonly in speech, and is very often said as n.

Other uses of no

No has several different usages. One usage is the "possesive" or "noun-joiner" usage, as in watashi no tokei, "my clock". However, this no is only very rarely abbreviated to n. The most common example is -nchi as an abbreviation of no uchi. For example Suzukinchi means Suzuki no uchi or "Suzuki's house").

Another usage of no is as a nominalizer, turning a verb into a noun. This usage is related to the word node. This usage of no is often abbreviated, in speech, to n. For example, hasitta nde tukareta "I'm tired because I ran".

Acknowledgements

This answer was originally based on a post by David Luke.

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