How to Ask if You Know the Movie in Japanese

In Japanese, saying "you lot" tin mean everything from "my beloved spouse" to "worthless piece of trash,"depending on the specific word you choose.

Below is a quick guide to the meanings of v dissimilar means to say "you" in Japanese then that you do not terminate upward on the wrong side of whoever you are talking to.

Contents

• My Textbook Says "Anata"
• How to Naturally Say "Y'all" in Japanese
• • one. あなた — Anata
  • 2. 君 (きみ) — Kimi
  • 3. あんた — Anta
  • 4. お前 (おまえ) — Omae
  • 5. てめえ — Temee
• Bonus: Talking to Groups and Saying "Your"
• More Natural Ways to Say "You" (Without Actually Saying "Y'all")
• • 1. [Proper name] + title
  • 2. No pronoun at all

Download: This blog post is available every bit a convenient and portable PDF that y'all can take anywhere. Click here to get a re-create. (Download)

My Textbook Says "Anata"

It certain does! Textbooks generally do use あなた —anata to mean "you lot" at a beginner level, for clarity's sake.

Although they tin can certainly teach you the fundamentals of grammar, using textbooks to learn might mean that your speech volition audio unnatural until you reach an intermediate level or begin learning with more than authentic Japanese resource.

You lot tin can utilize あなた to hateful "you"—it is technically correct—but at that place are a lot of other means to say (or not say) "you" in Japanese, and some are far more frequently used by native speakers.

Read on to observe out more!

How to Naturally Say "You lot" in Japanese

The discussion "you" is a pronoun. Pronouns are words like "I," "y'all," "she," "we" and so on, that substitute nouns to foreclose repetition.

English pronouns come in many forms (e.g. I, my, me, mine) but they operate a little differently in Japanese. And then while yous demand to learn a few more pronouns in gild to address people at the right level of politeness, you practise not need to learn vastly different forms like "mine." (Instead, a uncomplicated particle will do.)

Below are v means to say "you" in Japanese for vastly different occasions.

one. あなた —Anata

Typically written with hiragana, あなた is the standard, polite way to refer to the listener in a chat, though generally information technology is only used when you do not know the name of the person y'all are speaking to. It is typically used by women—this gendered speech is very common in Japanese, with spoken language patterns differing between men and women.

It is also used by many women to refer to their spouses. It tin can exist said in an endearing way, like "darling" or a pet name in English, but it is too often used to express exasperation.

Generally used by:

Y'all can use this to refer to a stranger. Women also utilise information technology to address their spouses.

2. 君 (きみ) — Kimi

君 is most often written using kanji. Those of you studying hard volition see that this kanji is also used with its onyomi kanji reading for the suffix 〜君 (〜くん) — -kun , which is used equally a familiar term to address males.

This is the word for "y'all" that near men would choose to refer to someone when speaking in a casual chat. It should not be used when talking to your dominate or someone else higher than you on the social ladder, as it expresses a level of familiarity that is inappropriate. You lot would risk sounding presumptuous since information technology indicates that every bit the speaker you feel yous are on the same level as, or superior to, the person y'all are talking to.

It is used oftentimes in songs to create a feeling of immediacy, familiarity and informality. Boyfriends too apply it when talking to their girlfriends.

Although English pronouns do not carry so much cultural coding, by looking at 君 and あなた you should begin to see that it is of import to consider who is speaking and who is being spoken to when picking out the correct "y'all" to use.

Mostly used by:

This word is used by men in a higher position than those they are talking to, boyfriends talking to their girlfriends and in songs by both men and women.

3. あんた — Anta

This is a contracted version of あなた,and every bit such, is less formal. Written in kana as あんた, information technology is typically regarded every bit a rude and crude way to address the listener, expressing the anger or disrespect of the speaker.

This pronoun is non used in polite conversation.

It is overly familiar and tin can exist quite offensive because it is expressing the speaker's superiority, although you will ofttimes hear it in anime, comedy or TV dramas. A quick search on Jisho.org'southward sentence examples shows the flavor of this word: insulting, exasperated and used for rough and gear up exclamations.

To see how using this word tin can bear upon the recipient, check out a Japanese native speaker's take on a non-native speaker using あんた to address her.

By and large used by:

Women tend to utilise あんた more than than men, especially when addressing men. A typical instance would exist a wife criticizing her husband.

Both men and women may utilize this when roasting their closest friends or family in jest. However, information technology is something that requires a refined ability to know how others might feel virtually it. If you are unsure, just avert this term birthday then you do not accidentally upset anyone.

4. お前 (おまえ) — Omae

This is a masculine and somewhat gruff way of saying "you." It is often used by older male teachers when scolding naughty groups of students, though it should be emphasized that this isnot a polite way to speak to them. It shows that the speaker'south authority is considered loftier above those existence addressed and is very informal.

The dictionary notes that this can be considered a derogatory term, only similar all Japanese, information technology is essential to consider context and politeness level. For case, if your older male person boss says お前 to you when asking y'all to book a meeting room, it is not passive-aggressive or rude, but rather simply him speaking from his established position in the office hierarchy.

However, if a stranger of your historic period on a train speaks to you and uses お前 then it is like to them having said "Oy! You!"

While constantly reinforcing your position in a bureaucracy (or, more uncomfortably for some, within gender stereotypes) may seem to contain a smug subtext in English language, it is not and then in Japanese and information technology is important to recognize that people rarely hateful law-breaking when using this term.

If somebody does desire to upset you in Japanese, y'all volition likely be able to hear it in their intonation. Conversely, cues like hearing someone say お前 to yous tin can assist you gauge where you are in terms of politeness level (hint: yous commonly start near the bottom of the hierarchy!).

Men often use お前 in the same way that women use あなた with their spouses, though information technology reinforces their supposition that they are superior in the couple. You can hear an example used past Domyouji from "Hana Yori Dango."

Yous can find more examples of people using this discussion with the FluentU program, where you can watch accurate Japanese videos and interactive subtitles.

Generally used by:

This one is reserved for men talking to their spouses, men in a superior position talking to their subordinates and men who feel secure inside their position in a group (similar established workers in an office, young men or boys with peers they know well and elderly men talking to pretty much anybody outside of a formal context).

5. てめえ — Temee

手前 (てまえ) is written with kana and shortened to てめえ.

Take caution: This word is incredibly rude and is almost never heard in real life.

This writer has heard information technology used once in ten years in Japan (past unsupervised kids fighting over toys trying to out-manlike each other). However, this expression is worth knowing because it is used for dramatic accent in anime and drama, and y'all hear it pretty often.

This term is at to the lowest degree as confrontational as dropping the F-bomb in English and expresses great anger toward the person you lot are speaking to.

Mostly used past:

If you hear this, someone is trying to actively start a fight.

Bonus: Talking to Groups and Saying "Your"

In English language, "you" can hateful one person or a group that the speaker is talking to. In Japanese, but add together 〜たち —-tachi ,  sometimes written with the kanji 達, to pluralize "y'all" and refer to two or more than people you are conversing with (for case, 君たち —kimi-tachi).

A more polite way to do this, and one that is more suitable for dealing with clients in a business organization setting, would be to use-kata or -gata, which elevates the level of politeness.

If you are wondering whyyard sounds sometimes become g sounds in Japanese, it has to do with the sounds immediately preceding them. This is calledrendaku and there is a thorough and helpful article on Tofugu all nighrendaku usage that is well worth a read.

Then, at present yous can say "you" in Japanese, but how do you say "your"?

Y'all demand to add the possessive particle の — no, which acts in a similar fashion to adding "apostrophes"in English and indicates possession. For instance, if you want to ask "Is this pen yours?" you would say あなたのペンですか？

The particle の can exist attached to the cease of any of the pronouns listed above and to a person'south proper noun (more than on this below).

More than Natural Ways to Say "You" (Without Actually Proverb "You")

Equally you can see by now, Japanese cannot merely be directly translated from English. Big cultural differences exist surrounding how y'all address others, and then the most natural ways to actually say "you" in Japanese would sound, unsurprisingly, quite odd in English.

Here are the two well-nigh mutual ways used by native speakers in daily conversation.

i. [Name] + title

This is a very natural way to refer to a person in Japanese. The absence of a pronoun is actually polite, considering you replace it with the listener'south name, implying that you lot respect them and know their name and everything information technology stands for (historically family unit honor, status, etc.). Recollect that information technology is more than proper to apply the final name.

Picking upwardly this habit in identify of あなた is a very fast mode to make your Japanese audio more fluent and to become to grips with more than common Japanese names.

Yous can as well affix の to the name to say "yours," as explained above.

In more breezy conversation, yous may find that Japanese people drop the honorifics: ジョンは元気？(ジョンはげんき？) — "Are you well, Jon?" Note that this indicates closeness and informality, so practise non driblet titles until the native speaker does or tells you that you lot can, to be sure to avoid offense.

In the instance in a higher place, other formal aspects accept been dropped: お元気ですか？ (おげんきですか？) becomes simply 元気 (げんき？), spoken with rising intonation to signal a question. All of these aspects work together to give a sense of corking informality and closeness.

2. No pronoun at all

Familiar pronouns tin can be presumptuous, assuming that the speaker can judge the hierarchy of a situation. That is why using no pronoun at all is often more polite.

If this sounds confusing, recollect that in English, we too drop pronouns or other information from sentences when the context makes it clear what is happening to all concerned. Consider the following example of a chat:

A: "Got a lot to do today?"

B: "Yeah, swamped!"

Context makes it clear A is talking to B, then "you" and "I" are not needed, and intonation makes information technology articulate that A is request a question, not making a statement. Here is another case:

(C has spoken about weekend plans and so asks:)

C: Going anywhere fun?

D: I'm going to the beach with my family.

In isolation, D's sentence is talking about the nowadays moment, but the context of the conversation, both parties empathise that D is discussing the future.

These kinds of cues are used all the time in Japanese, which is a high-context linguistic communication. Dropping the pronoun or proper noun is not only acceptable, but it is actually more natural in many cases.

If we go back to our case in a higher place, we can really shorten ジョンは元気？ to, quite simply, 元気？or As long as it is clear who you lot are referring to (like if you are speaking straight to one person), yous can unremarkably safely driblet the pronoun.

Choosing the right way to say "yous" in Japanese can be disruptive for beginners, simply you lot will presently get the hang of it. If in doubt, err on the side of caution. It is what the Japanese do!

Just follow this golden rule:Existence likewise polite will not fire any bridges, only being too informal might.Good luck!

Download: This blog post is available every bit a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

johnsonofess1991.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/you-in-japanese/

Share this post