Questions tagged [pronouns]
代名詞. Words that substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
91
questions
0
votes
2answers
115 views
Can I use verb as noun in a informal way? Informal Japanese
I've tried searching for the answer in a lot of place. But all I get is formal answers (like 彼女はいつ来ますか). I'm assuming that the informal style will be 彼女はいつ来てるのか。 because the verb come turned into ...
3
votes
1answer
311 views
The use of 僕 by office employees
In the famous 1952 film 生きる (Ikiru), the government-office employees frequently use 僕 to refer to themselves (even the female character used it). Based on this understanding of 僕, 僕 is basically a ...
0
votes
1answer
103 views
How much “weight” do personal pronouns have?
I always feel like I have an identity crisis when I try to say "I" in Japanese.
After reading so much about differences between the various pronouns I've gotten the impression that whatever ...
2
votes
1answer
110 views
How to refer to a person as an 'It'
In english you can call objects an 'it', as well as people, and generally seen as rude to call a person an 'it'. Is it possible for something similar to be done in japanese? Call a person an 'it'?
If ...
6
votes
2answers
295 views
Oneself words difference : 自分, 自身, 自ら, 自分自身, 己, 自己, 自力
I know it's a huge topic, but I can't understand the differences between all this ways to say oneself, and by extension yourself, himself, herself ...
If anyone can help me to have a picture of the ...
2
votes
0answers
70 views
Confusing interchangeability of 汝 and 己
In most cases, 汝 is the formal/archaic second person pronoun, "you/thou", and 己 is a humble and archaic first-person pronoun or a way to refer to oneself.
However, confusingly, in many ...
3
votes
1answer
122 views
What's the significance of this female character's use of おまえ?
I'm accustomed to thinking of おまえ, in modern Japanese, as a second-person pronoun and form of address that is used by men and boys with their inferiors or equals. But in 『少年と犬』, by 馳星周, there's a ...
0
votes
1answer
106 views
How would a butler/servant refer to his princess?
I'm looking to translate a catch-phrase into Japanese. It would belong to a servant/butler character, when he confirms a order, or announces his arrival, etc.
Basically "My Queen" / "My ...
0
votes
1answer
81 views
どちら vs どちらの for “which”
When should I use どちら and when should I use どちらの for asking a which-question?
My intuitive understanding is that どちらの is used when one wants to ask "which [noun] ..." (e. g. どちらの色が好きですか) but ...
1
vote
1answer
86 views
Translating without the use of pronouns
I saw this sentence in my review today:
母はいつも、単身赴任中の父のことを案じている。
No pronouns, but easy to understand. One way of translating this sentence would be
My mom (A) is always worried about my father (B) ...
6
votes
1answer
744 views
When can you use の to replace a noun?
How come the sentence 白いのは、高い is ok, but the sentence 学生じゃないのは、学校に行かない is not? Wouldn't the second sentence just mean "the one who isn't a student does not go to school"? On Tae Kim's grammar guide, ...
1
vote
1answer
71 views
Why is 自分たち used here?
I was wondering why 自分たち is used instead of, let's say トールたち or another personal pronoun to refer to Tohru and Co.
for context: Tohru and Co just finished performing a stage play. They managed it ...
2
votes
2answers
208 views
When does 彼 refer to a person of indeterminate gender?
I've seen 彼 and even sometimes 彼氏 described in several dictionaries as a pronoun that can refer to a person of any gender, while 彼女 is explicitly female. However in the wild ive never seen a woman ...
2
votes
1answer
245 views
How commonly is てめぇ used as a synonym for 自分?
The following exchange happens in One Piece:
ブルック: い...行くんですか！？サンジさん！！！
サンジ: 行かいでかてめぇの問題だ！！男サンジやらねばならぬ！！！
I found the sentence kind of baffling at first because as far as I know 行かいでか is Edo ...
8
votes
4answers
3k views
Is 僕 (boku) only appropriate for cisgendered men?
I'm enrolled in Japanese at my university, and we recently had a review of personal pronouns. The professor encourage us to understand and practice casual speech, and as part of that, to try finding ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
What's the difference between 僕等, 我々, 僕たち, and お互い?
As I read more Japanese texts, I’m finding there are a lot of ways to say “us.” Are there any contextual differences or differences in politeness level between 僕等, 我々, 僕たち, and お互い?
2
votes
1answer
2k views
Honorifics in Japan
I learnt alot of korean and also the fact that a younger girl would call an older girl 'eonni' or and older boy 'oppa'. Also a younger boy would say Noona (older girl) or hyung (older boy). Do ...
0
votes
1answer
88 views
What is それ doing in this sentence
In reading exercise #3 of JLPT N3 読む guide, there's a sentence that contains それ and I don't understand why.
大好きなおもちゃが壊れてしまった子供にとっては、それを直してくれるおもちゃの専門家が、神様のように見えるようです。
Can someone explain to me why ...
1
vote
1answer
302 views
How do parents say “I” when talking to their children in Japanese?
When a parent is talking to their child in Japanese, what are the common ways of saying "I"? I've often heard parents refer to themselves in the 3rd person, ie お母さんについてきて ("come with me"), お父さんの車を洗って (...
2
votes
1answer
241 views
How politely to say “you”?
I found many variants in the internet, but they include あなた, which as I know isn't polite and better not to say it to a stranger.
So, if I don't know the name/last name of the person, don't know the ...
2
votes
0answers
162 views
Why was I called 君？
I’m talking with someone on Tandem who I’ve never spoken to before and he immediately called me 君. He’s only 2 years older than me and I thought きみ was for relationships where there is a bigger age ...
3
votes
1answer
174 views
Is an honorific necessary when using someone’s name to say “you”?
Since people often just use someone’s name to say “you” do you always need an honorific?
Like could I just say 「ボブの犬が大好きな！」to say “I love your dog!” to Bob? Or would it need be ボブさん?
2
votes
2answers
348 views
Usage of こいつ, あいつ, etc
When can I use こいつ, あいつ, etc?
I’ve seen that they can mean he/she/this/that in various contexts but when is it appropriate to use them versus 彼 or 彼女？
6
votes
2answers
261 views
Is pronoun switching on the fly a thing?
There's a song called Ame no Musique for the game Symphonic Rain.
The song's sung by a character that uses 私｛わたし｝when she speaks, but in the song there's a line that uses あたし:
アタシヲアイシテ
And then the ...
3
votes
1answer
96 views
Relative pronouns in せずにはいられない + noun
天を仰ぎ両手を合わせずにはいられない結果が得られている
In the above excerpt, I'm not 100% sure how to connect the 結果 with the rest of the sentence. I do understand that the meaning is something like "Obtained result that you ...
2
votes
1answer
250 views
How to use 彼 and 彼女?
The first time I saw these two terms, they were used in a love context, to mean "boyfriend/girlfriend". Later, I came to know that you can also use these to refer to "that guy/girl".
So, what I ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
Is it acceptable to use あなた when referring to a superior indirectly?
I know that generally あなた shouldn't be used when referring to superiors. However, I find it difficult to rephrase the following sentences which refer to a superior using あなた in an indirect manner:
...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
What's the difference between “doko ga … desu ka” and “… doko ni arimasu ka”?
I'm reading a textbook and I have this example:
Takashi-san no ie wa doko ni arimasu ka?
Trying to understand why is arimasu used instead of desu I rephrased it like so:
Doko ga Takashi-san no ...
0
votes
1answer
977 views
Kochira vs Konohito and Donohito vs Donata
I'm reading a textbook and I've encountered these examples:
Kochira wa donata desu ka?
Konohito wa donohito desu ka?
I know the first one is a more polite way of asking about someone, but is there ...
0
votes
0answers
47 views
how can I use japanese pronouns if I am beginner in the language japanese? [duplicate]
hello everyone I am very beginner in japanese just I have 2 day learning japanese then I am not expert in this language yet I saw in Wikipedia this japanese pronouns:
watashi わたし
watakushi わたくし
...
5
votes
1answer
123 views
Can someone explain what purpose こう and こと are serving in this sentence? and whether my interpretation/translation is somewhat correct?
This sentence here (which in context of where I found it is referring to two people, as shown in the brackets):
(私たちのことが認めてもらえるまで。) それまではこうしていることは内緒です
I vaguely understand it to mean something along ...
3
votes
1answer
194 views
Understanding Susumu Kuno's example of misuse of 自分
On Wikipedia's page for Logophoricity, there is an example of that concept in Japanese.
On this Wikipedia page, sentences from Susumu Kuno's 1972 journal article Pronominalization, Reflexivization, ...
7
votes
1answer
268 views
Can the volitional form be used to nominate yourself for something?
I did a quick search on this site to see if I could find any answer to this and found this question: Does the volitional form of a verb mean both "let's" and "I want to"?
But ...
4
votes
2answers
203 views
Translating “you” as 君 when giving a definition
I am trying to define the word "deceive". In English, I would say something like this (regardless of whether or not it is a good definition):
To deceive someone means that you lie to someone, and ...
1
vote
1answer
159 views
Formal, feminine first-person pronoun
よろしくお願いします。 I am writing a scene (in English, with occasional
Japanese for flavor and difficult-to-translate terms) where a rather
androgynous woman is in a Tokyo department store, speaking with a ...
0
votes
1answer
114 views
When are these different ways of saying 'I' used?
When I was first exposed to japanese language, there were three pronouns I learnt - 私、僕、and おれ。
But I've seen more pronouns and am not sure when they would be used - わたくし、わっち、わがはい、うち、おれさま、and みずから(?) ...
19
votes
4answers
6k views
Is it offensive to say あなた?
My teacher says that we should avoid あなた, like わたし, which could be taken off. Following this, I try to refer to the second person by the name: 加藤さんの趣味は何ですか. But there are situations where we forget ...
1
vote
1answer
98 views
Talking about contextual things… Which Pronouns to use?
Apologies is this is an easy to answer or hard to explain question...
In English we often use demonstrative pronouns to reference what we just talked about.
For example:
The busiest stations in the ...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
Usage of いる/います and ある/あります in combined words and sentences
Actually, this has been lingering for sometime in my mind about how Japanese convey a sentence which has both the living and non-living things. Will Japanese use いる or ある? or whichever comes first? or ...
4
votes
1answer
190 views
Please help me identify who does what in this sentence and check the translation
Here is the sentence:
妹に車で駅まで迎えに行かせます。
The translation from Tatoeba is
I will have my sister pick you up at the station.
I've been reading "Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't ...
2
votes
1answer
134 views
How to address readers/viewers in an article or video?
How should one address readers or viewers in a published work?
For example, it is common in English language articles and videos these days to end by asking the viewer to share their opinion in a ...
0
votes
1answer
140 views
Speaking in first person without saying “I”
For example:
今日から明日まで勉強します。
kyou kara ashita made benkyou shimasu.
How do I know that the speaker talks about themselves?
1
vote
1answer
127 views
How can I explain about someone who is beside without saying their name for example “he likes to eat fruits”
Is it possible for me to use あの人は その人は この人は to address somebody (instead of using their name) who is beside me because i'm doing a presentation and i'm required to describe somebody but that person ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
How do I say “the other person”?
I want to write a small dialogue.
How do I say "the other person says/answers etc."?
Then, one said...and the other replied...
When names are available I usually use those to indicate who says what,...
4
votes
2answers
267 views
Pronoun collocations
I have embarked on a project of translating a novel I am writing into Japanese in parallel with writing it, and one of the hardest parts for me (in contemplation, I haven't really gotten that far) is ...
1
vote
1answer
96 views
How can I tell wether this pronoun points forward or backwards in context
For full context see this document:
https://www.docdroid.net/qteAJpo/img-20170628-0002-new.pdf.html
最近、いろいろなところで開かれているビジネスマナーのためのメンタルトレーニングでも、これと同じようなことを行います。
I'd like to know for this これ in bold: ...
6
votes
3answers
868 views
Nuance between 僕 and 俺?
I'm aware that this is a common question and one that can be quite situational, but I have a few specific questions regarding nuance between these two pronouns for "I".
jisho.org describes 俺 as "Male ...
0
votes
2answers
210 views
In which cases pronouns can be omitted in questions?
The phrase "doko kara kimasu" is translated as "where do you come from" . I suppose this a short version of "anata wa doko kara kimasu ka" . If I want to ask where does he come from? I suppose I ...
9
votes
1answer
3k views
Difference between どこですか and どこにいますか/どこにありますか?
(1) 本はどこですか。
(2) 本はどこにありますか。
Unless I'm mistaken, both those sentences mean something like "where is the book", what's the difference between using です and あります to indicate position?
I ...
7
votes
2answers
199 views
Why is “My Apps” translated to マイApp instead of something like 自分のApp?
In iTunesConnect (for those who don't know, iTunesConnect is a website where developers and iBook authors can manage their apps/books), there is this "My Apps" button:
When I change my OS's language ...
