CEE 's BASIC JAPANESE through comics Lesson 59 « You (Part 1) In our last Qwo lessons, we took an up-close look at pronouns for we will turn our sights to the many pronouns which can be used for “you.” For every case and situation that calls for a certain “I,” there seems to be a corresponding “you.” again dependent on the age, gender, and social status of the people interacting It is important to remember that the Japanese generally tend to avoid using personal pronouns, and the use of those for “you” is particularly limited. Entire conversations take place without the speaker once referring to the listener with any of these pronouns. A Japanese speaker is more likely to use the listener's rhame, with -saur of -kur oF -chan: or ifthe listener is of higher social status, his or her title, Still, there are many situations in which the pronouns can’t be avoided—and then the trick is to select the right one, In this lesson, we cover some of the most common words for “you.” These same words are sometimes used in ways that make them equivalent to English words other than “you” (e.g. a wile-to-husband anata = “dearfhioney”); we cover some of these uses, too, Anata as a generic “you” A woman had her purse snatched just as Matsuda was walking out of the hotel where he works The policeman who came to the scene asks people in the crowd if they can give a description of the thief Matsuda: I ‘e it you?” (PL3) Lay + the policeman doesn't ask full question, but it's Bbvious from the context that he's asking Masada the same thing he asked the eters Anata wa hunni no kao ya sua 0 oboete iasshaimasu ka? D0 you remember the face of appearance ofthe criminal” Anata isa polite and relatively formal “you"—the safest ‘choice Tor general use when you dont know yout listener's nae or te, 85 MangainMrs. Kat? 00 o Anata, no? wdOK explan-”) "Dear, it OK? “Dear, are you sure?” (PL2) Mr. Kato. 4 A WW ARE hi nie it nda YOK (explin. is gonOK (expan W's OK, its OK. “Sure, sure.” (PL2) be explanatory no is often used to ask questions in colloquial spesch—especially among wore, + Mr: Kitts use ofthe explanatory dais mostly for emphasis “Tapanese women iypiclly se cate it, “you") to ures their husbands in the way Eaglish speaking ‘women use "dear Anta: less formal—and even rude ‘These women are at a cooking class where they are required to fillet fish. The middle-aged dobatarian, while slicing her fish into three or four fillets, notices thatthe younger housewife is having trouble slicing even one. Obatarian: S258 HAL, NCH F Chote ania,” sore demo shufu? Hey you! [That's the best you can do] and yet you're house wie “Hey, you! Ls} + che that you call yourself a housewife! ally means “a Tine" but ts also used 35 an infor ‘mal interjection to get someone atten: “Hey! ‘+ sore demo literally means "even ifhough the situation is hat” implying “stillfyeUnevertheles.” In ths case is lke Eventhough you ei do any better than that, you sl ate claim wo bea housewife? Ana i a contraction of anaza. I has a very informal! familiar feeling. and, even without an aggravated tone fof voice, can he quite rade i used ia the wrong sation, So t's best avoided by beginners Mangajin 67Kimi (adult to child) ‘The baby, Akio, has just finished a photo session for an advertisement. Several other babies were also photographed, but Akio was the only one who posed just as the photographer asked. Pkbot a Man: “pli 6 63 ida soho ne “You were'@ good model again today, Akio." (PL2) LO ® & #5 ema k t Yiu, "Spot ob) use gue) tik empty UT think Wwe'l probably use your part.” (PL2) sata isthe plainlabrup past form of fio ( in no bun (teraly, "you potion/segensh tion of the photo session m which Akio appeared ine") relets 0 the por (Kina is an informal word for “you” used mostly by males when addressing equals of { sbortiateunons J Kimi (peer to peer) Nitta and Tanaka have entered a new high schoo! and joined the soeer club. When Nita learns that Tana ‘knows the teams prety manager, he wants to make sure he will be introduced ther Nitta: pie dH Kini hi ninaresd da ial wht ac trem "sem ike ve] can became Tt looks like you and I ean become Iriends “L think you and I should be friends.” (PL2) Tanaka: nof mara ars“looks lke the action will take place} + hochir literally, “this sidelditection”) i common way of refer ring to oneself or one's own group CIiwe"), and oso i an emphatic ficle. Kochina Koro can bs ierally rendored 2s "weal the ire” or"we as much as You" the expression essentially impos the srtiment mua and it's most ypically used as ase plas for returning greetings and expressions of tanks, 188 ManganKimi (superior to subordinate) ‘The president of Toa Appliances has just learned that it was Ms. Kizaki who thoughifully puta vase of flowers in the men's room atthe office. Shach@: f2'i SAORI kf HL Uohi mi kimi no soma joshi shain #owethe AM bh “This company is Tacky to have an employee Hi PL) + J} means “our company” and would normally be pronounced ‘This husband and wife are discuss ‘The wife has just said that her mother is truly with them, Wife FX: raga, Buti this case has indicated that it pro trounced wc Ueki tierally means snsie.” but its also frequently tse to refer to one’s oxen family. company. or other ingroup, + Kin wo yin (hho is] Hike you") modifies josh sha ("ema employee") «+ e's frm the verb iru (existe [here "and kurta isthe past Form of Kaver, which implies that the receding ace s forthe ‘bento the speaker, Kimi (husband to wife) he wite's mother. who recently moved in with the family 1eful to her husband for allowing her to live Wy fh HOTS At Ha haa nani ter ma Cina hat ere ving (ep. cs Aik GAZ hb, BADER Let Kimi ssa hitor’muswme — manda Kara, etarimae ja nik for -porom diver explo vate Bese mater course, not “Hla ha ha, what are you talking about? You're an only child, o it's mnly natural.” (PL2) oe BAN ITE 1 Hho tha ers “That's true, but...” (PL2) Ha haha Hoo ho (masculine and feminine laughs) iter ie iru alive saying” asking a question with dal or a Stations feels Iitori= "one person,” and hitar-omsim fay solefony child tesithonaly ithe responsibility ofthe eldest son to take eae of the parents in their ol age. Ifa daughter isan only child, bowever, the responsibility falls to he Mangajn 69eee at 8 t & a bg = z _ Basicnsapaness Omae (peer to peer) Michira and Shota are on a trip sponsored by their company dormitory. ‘The previous nig they sneaked up tothe girls’ bath area and listened in on the chatter. Unfortanately, Michiru fovetheatd them saying that they thought he was a strange, wishy-washy sort with a weird haircut, tnd now he is down in the dumps. Shite B. bill... HAE AF och SE REL T 0. amac. hanujortaché ga" iteta Kou Kini shite (amne 9 Brn oobi) went ang hinge lting ter ‘Are you Tetting what those girls said bother you?” (PL2) Michiru: fst tb Shota-kun wa fi 0. frame as for gaolahy (mp) You're lucky, Shota ..” (PL2) ieta» ne ita ere saying”), pas form of ite ire, Kanojo-tachi ga iteta those gts were saying [itl moxie ko thing". in share 1s the te fore ofA sur rind [Me it] bother you" 1 Ae va if seve follows a personal name oe pronoun, (it. "goodsfine/OK") can imply "the person] fs hick” Michitu goes ont sy that Shia is lucky because he is popular ith the pts and he has a gririend tack home, ‘Omae is used menily by men with their pers and subordinates, Among friend and family it generally caties a feling of familianty—though it ean alko sound qui ending o tone of voice, When used with people oder than aequaimances it fees quite roug Omae (superior to subordinate) iHaibara works at Empire Finance Company in Osaka. He is now consulting with the company president about a business deal, where he must decide in favor of either an individual investor fra large corporate one Shachd: wihits. iM FSO thtny es” “decom dame ome a or bik RDS Uh amy case, you're the one who has to make the decision.” (PL) Haibara: , bay $l 90 Mangajin Wa- _wukarimashia ST nderstand “Yeyes sir.” (PL3) + cure ni seyo isa phrase meaning “in any caselether way + jar kara i dialect for da kara “because itis Ivtkarimashita¥ the PLS past form of waka, “come to know understand.” The woed is often used in re pone to insiructionsleommandsrequests (0 indicate ‘he will do ss asked “YevOKM wil do itBasicesapanese Omae-san Beranmei Tochan has just ripped over an iron onthe floor and hit his head on the elevision, Wite ‘Tochan BEVEL, KLE beor maison. dab kt Are yo allright dear “Is itall right, dear?" (PL2) Llrtete Dw-owwww!™ ‘omai-san is a Gale variation of omae-san—a rare instance in ‘which sam is appended 0 a pronoun, {a is collogutl ka, for questions, but wth a softer, fiend fee: ing. Normally dai ka a situation lke this would be asking are you all right?” but in this case it turns out she's actually move ‘concerned abut the elesision, nother hasband hie isa corrapiion ofthe adjective ita paint"), which is also used asan exclamation of pan: "ow foul! ‘One froma male speaker can sound wough, but ome san spoken by a woman addressing her husband usally ha an endearing tone The appliance salesman Minamida has made f Although Minamida can’t help him out by buying a car for himself, he intro sas and is thus & potential customer Kaw: for Oki Kawai Minamida & Oki Otaku ti ily meas “your homefiouse," but it albo serves as relatively formal “you.” In the corporate setting. where its used 4 great deal. the meaning becomes "you/your com pay The formal Otaku car salesman, Oki es his friend to Fy oe Bn! cine Shitadort de sore dake dashite kurera no iralean for that mich al payne expan) it BECO fe Flocbuty ke ‘tak no kuruma karte me it sot rae am ing aby ph) “If you'll give me that much for my trade-in, 'd be happy to buy a car from you!" (PL2) Za ‘Really? sore = "that" and dake = “onl.” bu the combination often means "hat much” rather than “only that. dashie from dase (lit. “puvtake oat), which in money matters means “paylexpend" Kurern afer the -te form of aver implies the action willbe deme o o forthe speaker ae is the re oer ot dau buy mi grants permission or ex presse willingness wo do the ation, Mangain 91