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I am having an hard time understanding the difference between のですね and ですね and the difference between のですよね and ですよね.

For example, what is the difference between 簡単ですね and 簡単なのですね? Or the difference between 簡単ですよね and 簡単なのですよね? Thank you all in advance!

2 Answers 2

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It's all about emphasis.

Plain and simple 簡単です: "It's easy".

But that's a bit abrupt for the Japanese speaker who doesn't want you to feel stupid that you need to have it explained, so s(he) says instead...

簡単ですね: "It's easy, isn't it?"

This creates a little fiction that instead of telling you something you don't know and thus exposing your ignorance, he is simply calrifying something that you already know.

よ gives greater emphasis

簡単ですよ: "It certainly is easy" but that could sound very rude, so ね is included to soften the blow.

なの is best translated as "a kind of thing".

Putting it all together, 簡単なのですよね is "It really is an easy kind of thing, isn't it"

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First, I'm going to explain about sentence ender ね (not interjectional ね).

It has several usages and among them, there's one that can be interpreted like English tag question. But there's a function that's shared by those usages. It is to indicate that information accompanied with な or ね is your impression or conclusion through observation (including recollection) in the moment.

For example, when you are talking to your friend on the phone, you can say 声きれいだね (which can be translated to "you have nice voice, right? / indeed / after all") . However, if you say 髪きれいだね, s/he will be surprised and respond as "Are you watching me!?".

That's to say, you can't use it like tag question unless you share the context with the listener.

On the other hand, 髪きれいだよね works even in that scene because よね can refer to what is not present in your observation.

In the situation where you can say 声きれいだね, if you nevertheless use よね and say 声きれいだよね, it feels a little uncertain compared with one without よ.

As for difference between …ですね and …なのですね, when they're used in confirming what the opponent have said as it is, they aren't really different.

When you confirm your interpretation of the opponent's remark, なのですね works, but ですね is only taken as your impression to the remark.

When you ask for agreement, …ですね works but なのですね doesn't make sense.

It's tough to cover up all the usages, but each です and なのです can be combined with each usage of ね. Difference between ね and よね will be parallel.

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