What does 勝ったな mean?


I’ve stumbled upon the phrase 勝ったな and it was translated there as “he will
win” but what conjugation is that?




勝った is the -ta form of 勝つ, and normally indicates past-tense, but in this case
it actually is indicating the perfect.

A literal translation would be something like “(With this) he has won.” — that
is, as a reaction to something that has happened.

The な is the standard masculine sentence-ending particle, which adds a sense
of confidence in one’s statement (though also as a result indicates the
statement is about something unsure).

Of course a literal translation here is not what you would say in English, but
hopefully it helps you understand the grammar!




That is not a bad translation at all. In fact, that is what the phrase means
most of the time.

「勝{か}ったな」, even though it may take the past tense grammatically, is usually
said **_before_** the game/match, etc. is over rather than after.

It is said when it looks as though it is almost certain that you or your team
will be the winner. That is to say that the game/match, etc. is close to the
end and you are ahead by a good margin. We say 「勝ったな」 in that kind of
situation. Emotions overriding grammar, if you will.

Needless to say, you know there is mathematically still a chance that you
might actually lose in the end, but that does not affect the phrase choice, or
tense choice of 「勝ったな」.

