なんか・なんて

About

なんか and なんて are adverbial particles.

なんか and なんて are casual in tone, and have two common usages:

① Providing examples ("things like")

E.g. 緑色みどりなんか、どうでしょう？ "How about (a color) like green?"

E.g. お花はななんてどう？ "How about something like flowers?"

② Making light of, contempt, humility (belittling the subject)

E.g. あいつなんかに負まけるはずがない。 "There's no way I'd lose to someone like him."

E.g. 台風たいふうが来きているのに海うみに行いくなんて、どうかしている。 "(Doing something like) going to the ocean despite an approaching typhoon, they're crazy."

For usage ②, the speaker can "belittle" themselves to form humble statements:

E.g. 私わたしなんてまだまだです。 "I've still got a long way to go."

なんて can follow verbs, adjectives, and nouns, while なんか only follows nouns (or is used as filler in the middle/start of a sentence).

Summary

• 

  なんか and なんて are casual in tone

• 

  なんか and なんて have two common usages: ① Providing examples ("things like"), ② Making light of, contempt, humility (belittling the subject)

• 

  なんて can follow verbs, adjectives, and nouns

• 

  なんか only follows nouns