How to use 終助詞 -わ

Question

I've looked up a lot on how to use the feminine 終助詞 "-わ", but I still don't understand concretely grammatically where it is ok and where it is incorrect. I do not use it for multiple reasons, but I want to explain to someone how to grammatically use it properly.

Most often the person says "-くださいわ" which is incorrect. But why is it incorrect?

I've read the imabi page and the jp wikipedia page and they didn't help much. Is the -よ in "待ってくれよ" (like in a pleading tone) different from -よ in "美味しいですよ"?

わ usage at the end of sentences I've read this, but it is different because it asks about the meaning of its usage rather than the grammatical explanation of how it is used.

Please help!

Answer 1

Grammatically, わ always follows the dictionary form of a verb/i-adjective or だ. It never follows the imperative form and ～ください/～ちょうだい. (～ください is etymologically an imperative form.) As a feminine sentence-end particle, わ is used to state a fact or her own feeling with mild emphasis. Unlike わ, よ safely follows an imperative form.

• 煙草をやめるわ。 I will quit smoking.
• 煙草をやめたわ。 I quit smoking. (past tense)
• 煙草をやめたいわ。 I want to quit smoking.
• 煙草をやめて欲しいわ。 I want you to quit smoking.
• [*]煙草をやめてくださいわ。: (incorrect; やめてくださいよ is okay)
• [*]煙草をやめろわ。: (incorrect; やめろよ is okay)
• 鳥だわ。: (Oh,) It's a bird.
• 綺麗だわ。: It's beautiful.

Also note that this type of feminine わ is becoming rare in real conversations in standard Japanese, although it's still common in fiction. わ is also very common in Kansai speech and other western dialects regardless of sex.