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I and you words

Usage

Terms for "you" which imply familiarity with a person, such as kimi or omae, can be rude when used with an inappropriate person. In general the Japanese prefer to use the name of the person plus a title, such as san, rather than a word such as anata.

The use of the words for "I" is usually categorized as "male" or "female", with words like ore being masculine and atashi being feminine. However, depending on the dialect and other factors, women may refer to themselves as ore and men may refer to themselves as atashi.

All of the pronouns can take various plural endings such as tachi and ra, making watashi tachi "we" or "us", or karera "they" or "them".

Pronoun status

Linguists debate whether the Japanese words for "I" and "you" are properly described as pronouns, daimeishi (代名詞) in Japanese. For example, Japanese pronouns take plurals and adjectives. Also, in Japanese there is a difference between :Hondakun-ni atte kare-no hon-o kaesita. (Kare can be Hondakun) and :Kare-ni atte hondakun-no hon-o kaesita. (Kare can't be Hondakun) This kind of thing applies to regular nouns in English as well: :I met Honda, and gave the idiot's books back to him. (the idiot could be Honda) but :I met the idiot and gave Honda's books back to him. (Honda's not the idiot)

Words for "I"

watashi. Feminine and informal.

aru" speech.

boku

this was used by the old samurai

you (see below) as well as "in front of"

pronunciation of watashi.

I word in rōmaji	I word in kanji/kana	gender	notes
asshi		F	Contraction of watashi.
atai		F	Not polite.
atakushi		F	Contraction of watakushi.
atashi		F	Contraction of
boku		M	boyish, informal. boku is also used to mean "you" for little boys.
chin	朕		used only by the Emperor
jibun	自分	M	used in military-style "de
kochira			Literally means "here".
oira		M	Rural
ora		M	used in rural dialects
ore	俺	M	informal, sounds more `tough' than
ore-sama	俺様	M	arrogant
sessha	拙者	M	literally meaning `clumsy person',
temae	手前		this can mean both me and
uchi		F	Not polite.
wagahai	我輩	M	Has pompous connotations. Famous from Natsume Soseki's book wagahai wa neko de aru "I am a cat".
wai			Osaka dialect
warawa	妾	F	Archaic, humble
ware	我	M	Not polite, although wareware (我々) for "we" is acceptable.
washi		M	Used by older men
watai			Osaka dialect
watakushi	私	MF	Very formal
watashi		MF	Used by men in semi-formal speech and by women in both semi-formal and informal speech, this is a contraction of watakushi

Words for "you"

navy referred to each other as kisama. "thou", for example in translations of the Bible. See also nandi. "namudi" and note that the pronunciation is "nanzi").

kochira, it literally means "there", but it is a polite way to refer to others, often used, for example, on the telephone.

You word in rōmaji	You word in kanji/kana	Notes
anata	貴方, 貴女 (when addressing women)	Polite. This word is also used as a kind of equivalent of "darling" by women to their husbands.
anta	あんた	An abbreviation of anata, some may consider this over-familiar.
boku	僕	Used for little boys
jibun		Osaka dialect - not polite
kimi	君	Familiar
kisama	貴様	Nowadays this is usually either a literary word or an insult. However, naval officers in the Imperial
nanji	汝	Often used as a translation of English
nandi	汝	(Some dictionaries may list it as
omae	お前	Very familiar / rude
onushi	御主	Old style samurai speech, corresponds to sessha for `I'.
otaku	お宅	polite: see also otaku
omahan		Osaka dialect
onore		Osaka dialect - not polite
sochira		The "you" equivalent of
sonata
sotchi		familiar version of sochira
temae		very rude/familiar: can also be used for `I'.
wagakimi		Connected to waga (my) and kimi, this word often appears in rakugo (Japanese comic story telling).
ware		Osaka dialect - not polite

Words for "he" and "she"

Romaji	Kana/kanji	Notes
kare	彼	This can also mean "boyfriend"
kanojo	彼女	This can also mean "girlfriend"