Role of な in 嬉しいな

Question

In this question, the answer gives 5 meanings for な. But in 嬉｛うれ｝しいな, which is generally translated as "I'm glad" or "I'm happy", I don't understand what な stands for.

Since it's used to express your own feelings, I don't see how it could fit "seeking confirmation". I found elsewhere that だな is used to express "the speaker's emotion of wonderment or admiration", but again I'm not sure what that means when talking about one's own feelings. A sense of wonder about your own happiness?

By the way, I assumed だな is comparable to this な since 嬉｛うれ｝しい is an i-adjective and doesn't need です (basically 嬉｛うれ｝しいな ≈ 元気｛げんき｝だな in terms of construction), is that correct?

Answer 1

Depending on the situation, it can be 'seeking confirmation' or 'speaker's emotion of admiration'.

Case 1: A friend of a newly married couple gave as a gift something they had been looking for. Then the husband may say to the wife "うれしいな" (= We are happy, aren't we?).

Case 2: If the gift is more specifically to the husband, then he may say to himself "うれしいな" (or "うれしいなあ"), a largely exaggerated English equivalent of which would be "How happy I am!".

Regarding 2, it is usually called 詠嘆=exclamation. I'm not sure what is the precise equivalent in English is, but it can be admiration, amazement, a sense of wonder. In this case, it expresses something like: the emotion pours out naturally from inside.

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だ in だな in the last paragraph more comes from na-adjective's ending (元気だ), so it is still the same な. In terms of construction, it should be always dictionary form + な.

です can be used (うれしいですな, 元気ですな) before な. This basically adds politeness but sounds rather like the speaker is a very old man or something.