Japanese pronouns
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The Japanese language does not have pronouns as a grammatical category of words, per se; rather, the various words for "I", "you", "we", "they", and so on function as nouns for the purposes of sentence structure, grammar, and syntax. The pronoun is a concept of Indo-European languages (and other families) but does not translate well into Japanese.
Pronouns can never be translated from English to Japanese on a one-on-one basis. The words Japanese use to refer to other people are part of the more encompassing Japanese honorifics concept and must be understood within that frame.
As a general rule, the first person pronouns (e.g. watashi, 私) and second person pronouns (e.g. anata, 貴方) are avoided, especially in formal speech. In many sentences, when an English speaker would use the pronouns "I" and "you", they are omitted in Japanese. When it is required to state the topic of the sentence for clarity, the particle wa (は) is used, but it is not required when such information can be assumed from context. Also, there are frequently used auxiliary verbs that can indicate in certain circumstances the subject of the sentence, such as kureru (くれる) and ageru (あげる). Sentences consisting of a single adjective (often those ending in -shii) are often assumed to have the speaker as the subject. For example, the adjective sabishii alone can form a sentence meaning "I am lonely."
Thus, the first person pronoun is usually only used when the speaker wants to put a special stress on the fact that he is referring to himself, or if it is necessary to make it clear. In some situations it can be considered uncouth to refer to the listener (second person) by a pronoun. If it is required to state the second person explicitly, the listener's surname suffixed with -san or some other title is generally used.
Gender differences in spoken Japanese also bring about another challenge as men and women use different pronouns to refer to themselves. Social standing also determines how a person refers to themself, as well as how a person refers to the person they are talking to.
[edit] List of Japanese pronouns
Please note that the following list is incomplete. There are numerous such pronoun forms that exist in Japanese, which vary by region, dialect, and so forth. This is a list of the most commonly used forms.
| Romaji | Hiragana | Kanji | Level of speech and comments | Other meanings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
- I - |
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| watakushi | わたくし | 私 | very formal | private |
| watashi | わたし | 私 | formal | |
| atashi | あたし | informal, women | ||
| boku | ぼく | 僕 | informal, men | servant (archaic) |
| ore | おれ | 俺 | very informal, men | |
| (own name) | informal, small children (cute speech) | |||
| uchi | うち | 家 | informal, mostly young girls | one's own, can also mean house |
- you (singular) - |
||||
| (name and honorific) | formality depends on the honorific used | |||
| anata | あなた | 貴方 (rarely used) | formal | also used by wives to address their husbands |
| otaku | おたく | お宅, 御宅 | formal, polite | house, slang for obsession |
| anta | あんた | informal, mostly used by women | ||
| kimi | きみ | 君 | informal, to subordinates; can also be affectionate; formerly very polite | -kun (-君, a suffix primarily used with males) |
| omae | おまえ | お前 | very informal, generally used by men | |
| temee | てめえ | 手前 | very rude and confrontational | |
| kisama | きさま | 貴様 | historically very formal, now extremely hostile and rude | |
- he / she - |
||||
| ano kata | あのかた | あの方 | very formal | |
| ano hito | あのひと | あの人 | formal | lit. 'that person' |
| yatsu | やつ | 奴 | informal | a thing (very informal) |
| aitsu | あいつ | 彼奴 (rarely used) | very informal, often hostile | |
- he - |
||||
| kare | かれ | 彼 | formal (affectionate) and informal (usually neutral) | |
| kareshi | かれし | 彼氏 | formal (neutral) and informal (boyfriend) | lover |
- she - |
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| kanojo | かのじょ | 彼女 | formal (neutral) and informal (girlfriend) | |
- it - |
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| no direct equivalent | ||||
- we - |
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| -tachi | -たち | -達 | formal (私達, watashi-tachi) | |
| -domo | -ども | humble (私ども, watashi-domo) | ||
| -ra | -ら | very informal (俺ら, ore-ra) | ||
| hei-sha | へいしゃ | 弊社 | formal and humble, used when representing one's own company | |
| waga-sha | わがしゃ | 我が社 | formal, used when representing one's own company | |
- you (plural) - |
||||
| -tachi | -たち | -達 | formal (あなた達, anata-tachi), or informal and friendly (君たち, kimi-tachi) | |
| -ra | -ら | very informal, can be hostile (お前ら, omae-ra) | ||
| on-sha | おんしゃ | 御社 | formal, used to the listener representing his company | |
| ki-sha | きしゃ | 貴社 | formal, similar to 'onsha' | |
- they - |
||||
| kare-ra | かれら | 彼等 | used mainly in writing | |
| -tachi | -たち | -達 | used in spoken Japanese (あの人たち, ano hito-tachi, 彼女たち, kanojo-tachi) | |
| -ra | -ら | very informal (奴ら, yatsu-ra, あいつら, aitsu-ra) | ||
- notable others - |
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| ware-ware | われわれ | 我々 | formal "We," Mostly used when speaking on behalf of a company or group | |
| atai | あたい | archaic feminine "I", corruption of atashi (あたし) | ||
| sessha | せっしゃ | 拙者 | archaic "I" | |
| nanji | なんじ | 汝 | archaic "you", often translated as "thou" | |
| waga-hai | わがはい | 我が輩 | old, rarely used "I" | |
