Japanese Personal Pronoun Projects

This time, I would like to discuss about the personal pronoun "you" in Japanese. There are about 5 personal pronouns of you in Japanese. They are あなた(貴方),あんた,きみ(君),おまえ(お前) and きさま(貴様). It is very special compared with other languages from all over the world since the majority of languages in the world only have one personal pronoun to represent "you". Although Japanese people are avoiding using "you" in their daily conversation because it is considered as impolite when just calling someone as "you" but not the name, Japanese people also use them in different way according to their identity, occasions, their gender and the relationship between the one who they are talking with.

あなた(貴方)

"あなた" is the politest word of  "you" in Japanese. It is suitable for major situations since it is the politest word of "you". But Japanese people do not use "あなた" for calling someone unfamiliar. They use it to call their friends.

However, there is also another special meaning of  "あなた". Japanese wives would call their husband as  "あなた".  "あなた" is also a lovely name for wife to call their husband.

あんた

"あんた" comes from "あなた". It have similar pronunciation as "あなた". It is just a spoken language and cannot use in writing. It is rarely to use and it is also less polite than "あなた" and "君".

きみ(君)

"君" is the most used word of "you"  in daily conversation. We can heard this pronoun from different way such as movies, dramas and pop songs. It was a pronoun only used by male. However, nowadays, Japanese girls are likely to use "君" in their conversation. Therefore, it is no longer to be the pronoun only used by male.

There is also another special usage of  "君".

Let see the lyrics first.

Love Forever - 加藤ミリヤ x 清水翔太

作詞：Miliyah・Shota Shimizu
作曲：Miliyah・Shota Shimizu

君に出会えてよかった
切ないけれどよかった
ひとりの夜もそばにいてくれた
世界にたった一人の
君に出会えてよかった
思い出は　夜の空　星になり　輝くよ

ずっと孤独だった　壊れた心のドア
夜に怯えた　部屋でうずくまってた
シーツに顔をあて叫んだ
言葉にならなかった

迷わず何にもかも捨ててきた
こんな私を愛してでった
いつも君はそばにいてくれた
君さえ　いれば　それでよかった

君に出会えてよかった
切ないけれどよかった
ひとりの夜もそばにいてくれた
世界にたったひとりの
君に出会えてよかった
思い出は　夜の空　星になり　輝くよ

深夜０時過ぎの　街にひとりきり
泣きたいのに強がってる
さっきの喧嘩　思い出して
自分に苛立ってる

自分だけの時間が必要だった
少しお互い知りすぎたかな
昔のように向き合えないなら
距離を　置こう　そう決めたのに

君に出会えてよかった
切ないけれどよかった
ひとりの夜もそばにいてくれた
世界にたったひとりの
君に出会えてよかった
思い出は　夜の空　星になり　輝くよ

永遠を君に
もう逃げないって　ここに誓うよ
運命の時に
心が生きてると叫ぶよ
君がいなければ何の価値もない
ここに生きる意味もない
世界中でひとり君だけを信じてる

君に出会えてよかった
切ないけれどよかった
ひとりの夜もそばにいてくれた
世界にたったひとりの
君に出会えてよかった
思い出は　夜の空　星になり　輝くよ

あの日君がくれた夢の欠片
この手握りしめて離さない
きっとこんなに本気になれた愛
二度とない
君と出会えて世界は変わった
心動かす君探していた
あの日の二人に戻れなくても
離せないよ

It is one of my favourite love song called "Love forever". This is about a couple which have problems between them but they still love each other and hope to be with each other in their whole life. It is a wonderful and romantic lyric!!!

We can see in the lyric that many "君" is used. We also can see that the couple use "君" to call each other. That is another usage of  "君". It is a name for couples to call their lovers and calling someone who are close to them.

Let see another lyric.

love the world - Perfume

作詞：中田ヤスタカ
作曲：中田ヤスタカ

こっそり秘密をあげるわ
ずっと好きにしていいのよ
きっとキミも気に入るよ
二人だけの特等席


ちょっぴり运命みたいな
キャラにもないようなことも
感じたっていいじゃないの
誰か書いたシナリオ?


まだ この先が見えない
一番星さがす 手が震えても


あきらめないで 大切な
すこしの意地と キミよダーリン
刺激的 ほらステキ
見える世界がきらめくわ
手探りのあたしにも
すこしわかる気がしてるんだ
やわらかな キミのタイミング
ずるいでしょ チュチュチュ
love love the world


やっぱりチャンスをあげるわ
やっと見えたキミの隙間
きっと一人で悩んで
教えてくれていいんだよ
ちょっぴり反省みたいな
キャラにもないようなことも
たまにはいいじゃないの
誰か書いたシナリオ?


まだ この先が見えない
一番星さがす 手が震えても


あきらめないで 大切な
すこしの意地と キミよダーリン
刺激的 ほらステキ
見える世界がきらめくわ
手探りのあたしにも
すこしわかる気がしてるんだ
やわらかな キミのタイミング
ずるいでしょ チュチュチュ
love love the world


have a nice day!
be in a good mood yeah!
in all the world


喜びの中 まだ この先が見えない
一番星さがす 手が震えても


あきらめないで 大切な
すこしの意地と キミよダーリン
刺激的 ほらステキ
見える世界がきらめくわ
手探りのあたしにも
すこしわかる気がしてるんだ
やわらかな キミのタイミング
ずるいでしょ チュチュチュ
love love the world


have a nice day!
be in a good mood yeah!
in all the world


love the world

This is a song from my favourite idol -- Perfume. It is about the exciting feeling of a girl who love a boy. We can find that although the main character in this song is girl, she also use "君" to call the boy she love. Therefore, we can know that there is no restriction for female when using "君" to call lovers or we can say that it is a example that Japanese girls today like to use "君" as male to call their lovers.

おまえ(お前) and きさま(貴様)

おまえ(お前) and きさま(貴様) are rarely used by Japanese people. It is also only used by men. They use it to call someone who have close relationship with them such as best friends or punish others. Nowadays, Japanese people avoid using these 2 words in their daily life since it make others think that it is rude to others. However, they were used to call someone who is mighty. It was a pronoun to praise for someone in the past. We can see in mangas and anime these day for expressing the exciting feeling of characters.

Here is the example of using おまえ(お前) and きさま(貴様) in anime.

http://www.tudou.com/l/a9FhSIAvk90


This is the vol.487 of One Piece. At the 10:43, one of the marine general "サカズキ(赤犬)" shout at his enemies by using "お前ら". ("お前ら" is the plural form of "お前")

赤犬 (本名:サカズキ)
Omaera
Age: around 40 years old
Character: 強い(strong), 男前(tough)

To conclude, although Japanese people do not like to call others as "you" rather than the name of others since it seem to be impolite. However, they also use "you" to call the one they love by using "君" and express their anger by using おまえ(お前) and きさま(貴様). We also can see that the usage of pronoun "you" is changing as girls starting to call their lovers "君" and the changes of the usage of おまえ(お前) and きさま(貴様) in the past.

I hope I can have a girl who call me "君" just like the song "love the world" before long......

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Reference

http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/
http://kashinavi.com/index.html
http://www.perfumesound.com/forum.php