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When is it appropriate to put さ at the end of a sentence? Do women say this also? I think I remember seeing a female character say it in an anime.

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In standard Japanese, ending with a さ is a colloquial way to make a statement more playfully assertive. After a Hanshin victory over the Tokyo Giants, a Hanshin fan might say:

まあ阪神のほうが強いからな。

or

まあ阪神の方が強いのさ。

To preserve the tone, I might translate the first version as a flat statement of opinion, as in:

Well, Hanshin is the stronger team.

while the second version might be more of a playful burn, like

Well, Hanshin is the stronger team: fact!

It's not rude, but it is assertive, and colloquial, so I wouldn't use it with a superior. It's gender-neutral. If it seems to be employed slightly more by Japanese men than by Japanese women, that's just true of assertiveness in general.

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    It should be noted this is a feature of the Kanto regional dialect. People in Yamagata or Kansai don't really use it さ〜
    – crunchyt
    Jul 13, 2011 at 23:45
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    @crunchyt: Hmm, are you sure? I've only heard it used from speakers (in life and works of fiction) who had been speaking standard Japanese. Or did you mean "Kanto dialect" in the general sense, as including the Tokyo dialect/standard Japanese?
    – SuperElectric
    Jul 14, 2011 at 0:07
  • Yeah i mean it in the sense of 標準語 (ひょうじゅんご), I should've been clearer :)
    – crunchyt
    Jul 15, 2011 at 11:06
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    −1: You should use Chunichi instead of Hanshin. (I’m kidding)
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Jul 15, 2011 at 18:11
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さ　can be used by both males and females. Though my dictionary says mainly masculine and used for assertion.

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    Plus the dialects change the usage of this sound a lot. Ie, in Osaka, children and young people use it at the end of the sentence as a crutch or speech style. So what we hear can be either standard or dialect.
    – Gerard Sexton
    Jul 13, 2011 at 6:53
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Jisho.org has the following definition:

さ

Suffix

  1. -ness ​nominalizing suffix indicating degree or condition
    そして、どうすることも出来ない物憂さに、ふっとため息をつく。
    And then I breathe a sigh from melancholy in being unable to do anything about it.

Particle

  1. indicates assertion ​sentence end, mainly masc.
    ベストをつくしたら後はくよくよ考えないことさ。
    Do your best and don't worry.

  2. come; come now​ See also さあ
    でもさ、母を連れて行かなくてはいけないんだ。
    But, I have to take my mother.

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