Japanese Pronouns

In Japanese there are a multitude of ways to address yourself and the people around you based on gender representation, your status, the status of the person you are talking to and social situations.

If in doubt it is always safest to use 私 (watashi). Watashi is gender neutral and can be used in both formal and informal situations by people of any status.

The pronouns that most males use are either おれ (ore) or 僕 (boku). Boku tends to be used by small children and young men where as ore has more manly undertones and will be used by men who consider themselves as adults.

Most women will tend to use watashi in most situations however there is also a lot of times when あたし (atashi) is also used by women and in some cases men in more informal situations. This is seen as a more girly and effeminate pronoun and often perceived as very cute.

The most formal way of addressing yourself is to use わたくし (watakushi). Watakushi is used in very formal situations and is gender neutral.

Children and women will also sometimes address themselves in the 3rd person and use their own name as this is seen as a cute and childish thing to do.

Mostly when speaking it is polite to address a person by their name. If the person you are addressing is a close friend then just their name is enough however if you are just meeting this person and they have roughly the same social standing as you then the polite way to address them would be [name]san. If they are young children then girls are normally addressed as [name]chan and boys are [name]kun. If the person is of a higher social standing then it is polite to use [name]sama or if they have a profession such as teacher or doctor then [name]sensei is often used.

Another way of addressing someone else is to use あなた (anata) which is a formal and gender neutral term. There are other terms like おまえ (omae) which is normally used between men and as an insult but when used between friends can be seen as more of a term of endearment.

When talking about they there are two gender specific friends 彼女(kanojo) 彼 (kare) which relate to female and male respectively. These translate roughly to 'my female friend' and 'my male friend'.