What does it mean when you add "no" to the end of a japanese sentence?

Question

In japanese you can sometimes add the particle "no" to the end of a sentence. what does the sentence translate to when you do this, and how do you use it.


Example: "Dare ga shita no?"
--"Who did it?"

Answer 1

in male casual speech the sentence ending "~n desu" (which usually indicates the explanation of something) becomes "~n da" and in female speech becomes "no". Also, as in this case, the use of "no" with a rising intonation is common to both females and males when forming questions.

other examples:

*where are you going? doko, iku no? (male/female)

*going home. uchi ni kaeru no. (female explaining where she is going)

*going home. uchi ni kaerun da. (male explaining where he is going"

this is how "no" is used at the END of a sentence, but of course it is also used to modify nouns, show possession, or to act as "it" by replacing a noun so you don't have to repeat it over and over in a conversation, or to turn a verb into a noun.

*example as a noun modifier:

japanese class = nihongo no jugyou

*example as possession:

my book = watashi no hon

*example as "it" or as a pronoun

that white building over there is a hospital. the brown ONE is a bank. (one is the "it" or the pronoun)

ano shiroi tatemono wa byouin desu. chairoi no wa ginkou desu.

or.... whose bag is this? it's yamada-san's. kono kaban wa dare no desu ka? yamada-san no desu.

*example of turning verb to a noun phrase

i like to watch tv = watashi wa TEREBI wo miru no ga suki desu yo.

Answer 2

It doesn't mean anything it's just a word to complete the sentence, because without it it sounds really awkward. Instead of no, you can put no desuka, no da, no da yo...

Answer 3

it stands for what you are asking the question about....so "no" stands for whatever you have been referring to in past topics. instead of saying, who did the laundry, you say "who did.....?" and laundry is assumed by 'no'

Answer 4

no is used for possession, thats wat it represents, so its mostly used for objects