What's the function of だしな in 人生は一度っきりだしな?

[jemilioj]

Hi,

I have some trouble breaking up this example sentence from WaniKani vocabulary 幽霊.

「今日、学校サボってゲーセン行こうぜ。人生は一度っきりだしな！」「そうかな。僕はよく幽霊を見るから、死後の世界を信じてるんだけど。」

“Let’s skip school and go to the arcade today. YOLO!” “I don’t think so. I see ghosts all the time, so I believe in a world after death.”

In 人生は一度っきりだしな, what does だしな stand for? I suppose だ is the copula, な is “seeking agreement” and し is used as the “listing reasons” particle. Is this correct?

Second question: if the above explanation is correct, is だ mandatory, or can I also say 人生は一度っきりしな?

Thanks a lot!
Emilio

[plantron]

I think し is the grammar for listing reasons, and 人生は一度きり is a Japanese expression that means roughly “you only live once”, or in English YOLO. な is probably a variant of ね.

[Myria]

Your assumption is correct, だ is the copula, し is listing a reason and な is a sentence ender like ね.
But you definitely need the copula to connect っきり to し, like with nouns. You could leave out な if you wanted, though.

[jemilioj]

Thank you guys for your answers!