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Sometimes I think:
～とも came from ～と思う
～かしら　came from ～かしらん（知らない）

It's possible I'm wrong, so I would like to know the real meaning of those suffixes. Also, I'd like to know when I can use them without any problem (when talking about spoken language).

Ex:

  • もちろんいいとも
  • 明日は雨かしら
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6
  • Not sure about a link between とも/と思う (meanings are very different).　かしら indeed probably comes from か知らん[ない]. You might want to give more examples of とも, but the one you are giving above might just be a colloquial pronunciation of と思う, not the sentence-ending 'とも' particle. かしら has already been covered in another question and as you can see, you probably don't want to be using it (I'm assuming from your nick that you are male).
    – Dave
    Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 14:21
  • @daniel btw, you have been asking a lot of questions over the past few days and it's great... but please make sure you first review your older questions (and pick an answer if they've been answered) before you start asking new ones... :-)
    – Dave
    Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 14:35
  • oh. i picked the ~tomo sentence from a dictionary that translate it as "it may, it certainly..". I was reading a manga, and i faced ~tomo again (same way i wrote). I'm not talking about ~tomo (like futaritomo). but i wanted to know if ~tomo is related to ~to omou in every ending sentences.
    – daniel tomio
    Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 16:07
  • I looked for ~kashira here, but i could just find the one that says about usage by boys and girls. I've already read it. but my doubt was if there's a link between ~kashiran, and how i can use it (the exceptions for that usage - related to grammar, not gender). I was reading Doraemon, and he uses a lot ~kashira and ~tomo. I can understand, but i can't use it. maybe because i don't know the usage, and don't know the grammar of this. ^^
    – daniel tomio
    Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 16:16
  • but i really thank you for your comment! xD. it's being really good having you as a language partner. maybe i will edit my question a little. you helping me a lot. xD
    – daniel tomio
    Commented Jun 27, 2011 at 16:18

1 Answer 1

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～とも (in the sense you seem to be talking about) is a rather archaic sentence-final particle which is used for strongly asserting something that the listener may not be so sure about. That makes it similar to the far more colloquial particle よ, but it's somewhat stronger and more decisive than よ. 「いいとも」, for instance, would usually come in the context where A asked B whether it's okay to do something, and B wants to firmly reassure A that it's okay.

This とも has no relation whatsoever with ～と思う, but rather comes from combining the particles と and も. かしら, on the other hand, indeed comes from かしらん (＝かしらない), as Dave has already indicated.

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  • so does it mean that we shouldn't use とも and use よ instead otherwise we will sound "old-fashioned" ?
    – Pacerier
    Commented Jun 28, 2011 at 16:07
  • is there someone who says ～とも nowadays? (with that meaning)
    – daniel tomio
    Commented Jun 29, 2011 at 21:38
  • @Dainel: There are still people saying "Thou" today. Archaisms still survive, but their use becomes more and more artificial. You can definitely hear ～とも in extremely formal speech or in historical dramas. But other than that - no. It may still be common in some dialects but as far as I know it's strictly archaic in everyday speech.
    – Boaz Yaniv
    Commented Jul 2, 2011 at 16:11

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