What's the meaning of the ending じゃないの?


I found it twice. First in a song:

> いつもその本はハッピーエンドじゃないの。

And then the title of a manga:

> 遊びじゃないの。

じゃない alone is for negation (no happy end, no playing). What I can't understand
is the の at the end of the sentence... what does it stand for?




[Is ending question sentences with の really
feminine?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11914/is-ending-
question-sentences-with-%E3%81%AE-really-feminine)

の(だ)/のです with a rising tone are the abbreviations of の(だ)か/のですか。

**(The combination だか isn't really used in everyday life to the best of my
knowledge)**.

They turn the sentence into a question which, combined with じゃない make it a tag
question, as you can see in the links I posted in my comments.

> 遊びじゃない？ 遊びじゃないか。 遊びじゃないの（か）？
>
> It's a game isn't it? It's a game right? You're playing aren't you?

Without the rising tone (or か), じゃない is used to deny what precedes it.
の/のだ/のです have many different meanings (look it up on this site), the most
common ones being adding an explanatory and/or exclamative tone to the
sentence.

> 遊びじゃないの（だ）。遊びじゃないのです。
>
> It's not a game. It' not a game! (What the hell are you doing, ) it's not a
> game! (I can't believe you take it so lightly, ) it's not a game (you
> know?).

The sentences in の are often used to answer the implicit question "What is
happening?" : "Well, what's happening is..."

> 誰かが来た？ (Gathering information after coming home).
>
> Someone came?
>
> 誰かが来たの？ (Seeing 2 cups of coffee on the table).
>
> (What happened,) someone came?

I don't feel comfortable enough with those grammar to go further into details,
I would advise you to look for informations about the differences between だ/です
VS の（だ）/のです and （だ）か/ですか VS の(だ)か/のですか.

* * *

EDIT : Just to be clear, here are the different forms :

Simple Abbreviated Using の Abbreviated using の

猫だ。 猫。 猫なのだ。 猫なの。

猫です。 猫なのです。

猫（ **だ** ）か。 猫だ？/猫？ 猫なの（ **だ** ）か。 猫なのだ？/猫なの？

猫ですか。 猫なのですか。 猫なのです？




[Is ending question sentences with の really
feminine?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/11914/is-ending-
question-sentences-with-%E3%81%AE-really-feminine)

の(だ)/のです with a rising tone are the abbreviations of の(だ)か/のですか。

**(The combination だか isn't really used in everyday life to the best of my
knowledge)**.

They turn the sentence into a question which, combined with じゃない make it a tag
question, as you can see in the links I posted in my comments.

> 遊びじゃない？ 遊びじゃないか。 遊びじゃないの（か）？
>
> It's a game isn't it? It's a game right? You're playing aren't you?

Without the rising tone (or か), じゃない is used to deny what precedes it.
の/のだ/のです have many different meanings (look it up on this site), the most
common ones being adding an explanatory and/or exclamative tone to the
sentence.

> 遊びじゃないの（だ）。遊びじゃないのです。
>
> It's not a game. It' not a game! (What the hell are you doing, ) it's not a
> game! (I can't believe you take it so lightly, ) it's not a game (you
> know?).

The sentences in の are often used to answer the implicit question "What is
happening?" : "Well, what's happening is..."

> 誰かが来た？ (Gathering information after coming home).
>
> Someone came?
>
> 誰かが来たの？ (Seeing 2 cups of coffee on the table).
>
> (What happened,) someone came?

I don't feel comfortable enough with those grammar to go further into details,
I would advise you to look for informations about the differences between だ/です
VS の（だ）/のです and （だ）か/ですか VS の(だ)か/のですか.

* * *

EDIT : Just to be clear, here are the different forms :

Simple Abbreviated Using の Abbreviated using の

猫だ。 猫。 猫なのだ。 猫なの。

猫です。 猫なのです。

猫（ **だ** ）か。 猫だ？/猫？ 猫なの（ **だ** ）か。 猫なのだ？/猫なの？

猫ですか。 猫なのですか。 猫なのです？

