{"id":5055,"date":"2021-12-17T16:42:25","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T16:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/?p=5055"},"modified":"2021-12-17T16:42:25","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T16:42:25","slug":"japanese-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/japanese-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Pronouns: All You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Japanese is infamous for its tendency of omitting the subject in a sentence, but pronouns are still an important part of the language. Personal pronouns are especially numerous in Japanese, many have one or more honorific versions.<\/p>\n

Japanese personal pronouns are more commonly omitted as the subject of a sentence than impersonal pronouns are. In this article, we\u2019ll be taking a look at both types of Japanese pronouns, as well as some examples of how to use them and when they can be omitted as the sentence\u2019s subject.<\/p>\n

What Are Japanese Personal and Impersonal Pronouns?<\/h2>\n

We\u2019ll be separating Japanese pronouns into the categories of personal and impersonal. But what exactly are<\/em> personal and impersonal pronouns?<\/p>\n

Simply put, personal pronouns replace nouns that designate living things. More often than not, they\u2019re used for humans. In English, the basic personal pronouns are: I, you, he, she, we, us, they, <\/em>and them. It<\/em> can also be a personal pronoun, provided the word is referring to something alive\u2014a dog, for example.<\/p>\n

Impersonal pronouns replace nouns that designate non-living things or ideas. The most common examples of impersonal pronouns in English are: this, that, these, <\/em>and it<\/em>. Remember, the pronoun it<\/em> can only refer to a non-living thing if it\u2019s to be considered an impersonal pronoun.<\/p>\n

Japanese Personal Pronouns<\/h2>\n

There are many personal pronouns in Japanese, and most have several forms depending on how polite the speaker needs to be. The most extensive type of personal pronoun would be the one used to refer to yourself. These personal pronouns rely not only on the social situation, but also on gender. Because of this, we\u2019ll be breaking down personal pronouns into two sections: those used to refer to oneself and those used to refer to other people.<\/p>\n

Japanese Pronouns Used to Refer to Yourself<\/h3>\n

As we mentioned earlier, the way you refer to yourself in Japanese depends on your gender. It can also depend on how honorific you want your speech to be. In the chart below, we\u2019ll be breaking down the pronouns for \u201cI\u201d listed in the previous section. This time, we\u2019ll expand on honorific forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Pronoun<\/strong><\/td>\nGender<\/strong><\/td>\nPolite<\/strong><\/td>\nHonorific<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Watashi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u79c1\/\u308f\u305f\u3057<\/p>\n

I, me<\/td>\n

Neutral, female<\/td>\nWatakushi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u79c1\/\u308f\u305f\u304f\u3057<\/td>\n

Ware<\/em><\/p>\n

\u6211<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Atashi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u3042\u305f\u3057<\/p>\n

I, me<\/td>\n

Female<\/td>\nAtakushi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u3042\u305f\u304f\u3057<\/td>\n

Atakushi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u3042\u305f\u304f\u3057<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Uchi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u3046\u3061<\/p>\n

I, me<\/td>\n

Neutral, but more commonly used by females<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Boku<\/em><\/p>\n

\u50d5<\/p>\n

I, me<\/td>\n

Male<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ore<\/em><\/p>\n

\u4ffa<\/p>\n

I, me<\/td>\n

Male<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Jibun<\/em><\/p>\n

\u81ea\u5206<\/p>\n

Myself<\/td>\n

Neutral<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Watashitachi<\/em><\/p>\n

\u79c1\u305f\u3061<\/p>\n

We, us<\/td>\n

Neutral<\/td>\nWare ware<\/em><\/p>\n

\u6211\u3005<\/td>\n

Ware ware<\/em><\/p>\n

\u6211\u3005<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Bokura<\/em><\/p>\n

\u50d5\u3089<\/p>\n

We, us<\/td>\n

Male<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Orera <\/em><\/p>\n

\u4ffa\u3089<\/p>\n

We, us<\/td>\n

Male<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

While watashitachi<\/em> is the gender-neutral way to say we<\/em>, you can also use gendered pronouns to say we <\/em>in Japanese. If you identify as male and are speaking for your group, you can use boku <\/em>or ore<\/em>. Simply attach the suffix -tachi<\/em>\uff08\u9054\/\u305f\u3061\uff09to make the pronoun plural.<\/p>\n

Another way to pluralize pronouns is by adding the suffix -ra <\/em>(\u3089) to the end of the pronoun. However, this should be contained to casual speech. It also isn\u2019t as common to pluralize the pronouns watashi <\/em>(\u79c1) or atashi <\/em>(\u3042\u305f\u3057) using -ra<\/em>, as it\u2019s more often used by men. For example, a man might say orera<\/em> (\u4ffa\u3089) or bokura<\/em> (\u50d5\u3089) when referring to himself and his friends. He would only do so in a casual situation, and only to people in the same age or social group as himself.<\/p>\n

Overall, here are some examples of the pronouns used to refer to oneself:<\/p>\n