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While watching an anime, I took note of the phrase にげるんだよ!, which the character in question shouts as he is running away. From my research, the phrase can also be written as 逃げるんだよ!, but I haven't seen it as such in the native Japanese sources I searched.

I went on to analyze the sentence. にげる is a fairly straightforward translation to "run away" or "escape." However, I failed to understand the purpose of the ん character after it. だ also comes fairly straightforward, as the less polite form of です. Another particle I struggled with was the よ however, as from what I've found, it's a sentence ender that signifies the sentence contained new information or puts emphasis on it, which made little sense to me, given that the だ is already an emphasis.

My questions are:

What is the purpose of the ん character?

Did I assume correctly that the よ character is there because the speaker wanted to give the sentence additional urgency?

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  • Is 「にげるんだよ!」 uttered within the context of a conversation, like, as a response to a question? Or else does it, at any rate, come as part of a larger bit of verbal communication? If so, what verbal material came before 「にげるんだよ!」?
    – goldbrick
    Mar 31, 2018 at 7:46
  • @goldbrick It's probably dic.nicovideo.jp/a/…! Anyway, よ reflects lack of expectancy.
    – user4092
    Mar 31, 2018 at 22:23

1 Answer 1

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「逃{に}げるんだよ!」

First of all, 「ん」 is the informal/colloquial form of 「の」.

「Verb in Dictionary Form + のだ/んだ」

makes an earnest kind of request similar to an order.

「の/ん」 often gives an explanatory and/or persuasive tone to what one says and that is how it is functioning here as well. The shortest words can do so much singlehandedly in Japanese.

「逃げろ!」 is the simple imperative. There is no emotion/consideration expressed there.

「逃げるんだ(よ)!」 is more complex in that it expresses the speaker's good intention that it would do good to the listener if s/he ran away.

The final 「よ」 adds extra emphasis to the speaker's judgement, assertion, etc. that one should run away.

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