Japanese Pronouns - Television Tropes & Idioms

There are more than half a dozen words for "I" in Japanese, with varying rules for who can use them and when. Unlike English pronouns, Japanese pronouns make a statement about the speaker's gender and relative social position. The "wrong" pronoun can be a moment for comedy (see Different For Girls); the specific choice can say a lot about the character speaking. As might be expected these are also useful if you don't want to give away someone's name for whatever reason.

What Japanese doesn't do is distinguish between subject and object form; all of these mean both "I" and "me". Also, Japanese is one of the most strongly pro-drop

languages there is; it's quite normal to speak at length in first person without using any of these words.

Note that actual, IRL Japanese is a lot different from the Japanese used in anime, so take everything you hear in anime with a grain of salt.

See also: Pronoun Trouble, Hey You, Honorifics, Keigo.

open/close all folders

Ashi or Atai: 私 Contraction of "atashi"; used only by little girls or, rarely, by immature, very informal females.

Examples

Atashi: 私 Female-only, usable in formal and informal situations.

Examples

Boku: 僕 More or less informal term, used by well-mannered men who aren't trying to be overly assertive. Also used by tomboyish girls, and sometimes even non-tomboyish ones. Girls who use "boku" are known as Bokukko, and are considered Moe Moe. (Note, however, that bokukko are mostly confined to fiction; although Japanese girls have been known to use boku in real life, it's very rare.)

Examples

Jibun: 自分 Like "Myself", this can be used, by military-types particularly, as a uncommon pronoun, but it also serves for all reflexive pronouns.

Examples

"Me", Mii: ミー "Me" in very, very Gratuitous English. Used either by Eaglelanders or people trying way too hard to be Westernized — like some indeterminately Japanese-and-other characters. This can be used as both a singular and plural pronoun: "Me-tachi ga You wo mamoru", or "We'll protect you.", for example. See also Anime Accent Absence.

Examples

Ora or Oira: おら, おいら A once-common dialect form of "ore" with connotations of being from a low-class, rural area.

Examples

Ore: 俺/己 "I, a tough young man". Informal term. Used by men with their friends, kohai etc. Traditionally considered rude or aggressive when used with strangers, but nowadays, some young men use it as the default word for "I" in even semi-formal situations. Used by a vast majority of male leads in anime, especially in shonen, and also occasionally by extremely tomboyish girls.

Examples

Ore-sama: 俺様 Attaching an honorific usually reserved for one's social superiors to the most macho of first-person pronouns makes it an emphatic, arrogant and highly presumptuous version of ore, sort of like referring to yourself as "my most serene highness" or "my magnificent self." Used either tongue-in-cheek, or by the smuggest of men.

Examples

Sessha: 拙者 "This humble, unworthy, clumsy fool". This one is 16th Century courtly formal Japanese; use it nowadays and Japanese people will understand but they'll stare at you. People who use this in anime are usually samurai.

Examples

Soregashi: 某 Archaic, roughly along the lines of "some person." Used mainly by males. Originally it denoted humbleness (similarly to sessha) but later it came to be used in a haughty manner.

Examples

Uchi: 家 A word for "I" used in Kansai-ben (including Osaka-ben) by females. Thus, one may hear The Idiot From Osaka refer to herself as "uchi", in addition to other characters from the Kansai region.

Examples

Wagahai: 我が輩 Every bit as arrogant and presumptuous as ore-sama, with the added benefit of being quite archaic.

Examples

Warawa: 妾 An even more archaic form of Watakushi.

Examples

Ware: 我 An archaic "I", usually male; used by "respectable" people. Part of its esteem value derives from using the same character as 'I' in Chinese, which is pronounced 'Wo'.

Examples

Washi: わし Only used by old men.

Examples

Watakushi: わたくし An old or ultra-formal term, often used in anime by characters who are either profusely polite, or somewhat old-fashioned, particularly swordswomen in modern-era shows.

Examples

Watashi: 私 A standard word for "I", usable by males and females in formal situations; also fine for females in informal situations; if a male uses it in an informal situation it may feel either somewhat effeminate, very business-like or aloof. As such, a lot of pretty boy villains use it. In the case of children, watashi is often used by girls, but never by boys.

Examples

Yo: 余 or 予 A dignified, elevated form of "I". Archaic, though it's still used nowadays in very formal/ceremonious context.

Examples

Plurals:

Wareware: 我々 "We" or "us", used by both men and women to refer to a group. Generally used to refer to, say, one's people or one's company, rather than in a "me and my friends" sense.

Examples

Bokura: 僕ら "We". A plural of boku with similar connotations.

Examples

-tachi

達 Plural suffix. Can be added to most of the singulars above. Also used with most of the "you" words to address a plural "you".

Actually the term "plural suffix" is a little misleading here. There is no such a thing as grammatical plural in Japanese. When we say "X-tachi", we don't mean "the plural of X" (i.e. "a group of X's"), but rather "X and one or more others". See the example with a name below.

Examples

-domo: 共 Another plural suffix, but usually implying that the people or objects described are lowly or humble. Can be condescending when used on others, but using it on oneself indicates humility.

Examples

There are even more words for "you," carrying implications ranging from extreme deference to deliberate deadly insult. In real life, pronouns for "you" should be used carefully and as rarely as possible, since it can seem eighter distancing and cold or obtrusive to use them instead of ones first name.

Anata: 貴方/貴女 The standard word for "you". Also translates to "dear" when a wife calls her husband "anata".

Examples

Anta: あんた The familiar or condescending form of anata

Examples

Kei: 卿 Archaic second person pronoun, used mostly by males. It can be used among peers to denote light respect, and by a superior addressing his subjects and retainers in a familiar manner. Like "kimi" this can also be used as a honorific (pronounced as "kyou") in which case it's equivalent to "lord/lady" or "sir/dame."

Examples

Kiden: 貴殿 Archaic pronoun used by males when addressing equals and superiors (only men) in a polite, respectful manner.

Examples

Kimi: 君　A somewhat informal but still polite second person pronoun used mostly by men when addressing their equals or younger men and women. Can be used as a honorific as well, pronounced "kun."

Examples

Kisama: 貴様 Archaic, somewhat haughty word for "you." Nowadays it's mostly used in a "you bastard" meaning in anime and other forms of entertainment, however, in older feudal times it had no offensive overtones and was used to address subordinates and people below one's rank in an informal manner.

Examples

Nanji: 汝/爾 Another archaic form, roughly equivalent of "thou."

Examples

Omae: 　御前 Used by males with their close friends, children, kohai etc. Denotes self-assertiveness and informality so it's insulting to use it with strangers or in less informal situations. Females also use it but less frequently. There is also a version with rougher pronunciation that is said "omee".

Examples

Onore: 己 An extremely insulting word for "you". Often the last word shouted by a Super Robot villain before their critically damaged Humongous Mecha explodes. Lacking a proper english equivalent, it's mostly translated as a variant of "Why you!..." because of its common use in the heat of battle. Note, however, that when not being used in an deliberately second-person manner such as above, the word changes from a highly insulting pronoun to an ordinary (if mildly obsolete) term which means roughly the same thing as jibun. Except you cannot use it as an "I" word like jibun, only as general term for "self".

Examples

Onushi: 御主 Archaic mode of address used by samurai, nobles and really old or old-fashioned people. It implies that the speaker is a superior or equal of the one being addressed in social standing.

Examples

Otaku: 御宅 An old term for "you" that fell into general obsolescence and became a subcultural shibboleth, giving the word its more common meaning. Still pops up as a pronoun once in a while, typically by the military sort who might refer to himself as jibun.
Sonata: そなた/其方 An archaic form, which roughly translates as "thou". Used when pompously referring to people perceived as inferior.

Examples