第8課: Nouns & Pronouns　名詞と代名詞

※The use of romanization in this lesson is an exception rather than the norm to allow this information to be
more reader friendly to those who have not finished studying basic sentence structures.

A noun is often simply defined in English as a person, place, or thing. This is then broken down into two kinds
of nouns: common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns are generic name for people, place, or things, but
unlike proper nouns, common nouns are not capitalized by default. Examples of common nouns include "car,"
"island," "genius," etc. In contrast, proper nouns designate a particular being or thing and are usually
capitalized. Examples of "proper nouns" include "Mt. Everest," "Queen Elizabeth II," etc. 

■The Japanese Definition of "Noun"　日本語における「名詞」の定義

How does Japanese define "noun" and how do they compare in appearance and function? Similarly to English,
nouns in Japanese are defined as typically representing a certain thing which is either a physical object,
substance, person, or place, but may also include abstract concepts. 

■Nouns are Unconjugatable Independent Words　名詞とは活用不可な自立語である「体言」のこと

Japanese nouns are known for not conjugating. There is no such thing as inflecting them for grammatical
gender, person, or number. This is in stark contrast to nouns in other languages including English or any other
European language for that matter. They are independent words, which means they can be understood by
themselves. 

The Kinds of Nouns in Japanese　日本語における名詞の種類

Now that you know a little about what is meant by noun in Japanese, we'll look at the different kinds of nouns
found in Japanese. By doing so, you'll be able to recognize and know how to use any new noun you come across
once you learn what the noun means. 

Common Nouns　普通名詞

Common nouns comprise the majority of nouns in Japanese just how they do in English. They represent the
names of anything and everything that fits under the title it forms. For instance, ki 木 means "tree" and is used to
describe any and all trees. To be more specific, you could add a modifier to the word or you could use the name
of the tree you want to talk about, which will also be a noun. As an example, yanagi 柳 means "willow." 

Learning common nouns will be a major part of studying Kanji as most will refer to a noun one way or another.
Although it is not expected of you to learn the Kanji spelling of every noun you learn, it will be in your best
interest to at least see what the normal spelling of any noun you learn is and use the numerous tools available
online to provide you its pronunciation for whenever you forget or are just now encountering the word. 
 Noun  Meaning  Noun  Meaning

Ao 青   Blue  Aka 赤   Red

 Aki 秋   Autumn  Asa 朝   Morning

 Ashi 足   Foot  Ashi 脚   Leg

 Atama 頭   Head  Ani 兄   Older brother

 Ane 姉   Older sister  Inu 犬   Dog

 Imōto 妹   Younger sister  Oto 音   Sound

 Otōto 弟   Younger brother  Kawa 川   River

 Kuro 黒   Black  Shiro 白   White

 Neko 猫   Cat  Hito 人   Person

 Mizu 水   Water  Yoru 夜   Night

Proper Nouns　固有名詞

Just as in English, proper nouns refer to specific place, organization, or place names. Although capitalization
doesn't exist in Japanese orthography, proper nouns are often affixed with titles of respect called keishō 敬称.
For instance, Kaneko 金子 is a surname, and when one is referring to Mr./Mrs. Kaneko respectfully, you will
attach the ending -san さん to be polite, producing Kaneko-san 金子さん.

Personal Names　人名

People's names will be composed of a family name (surname) known as myōji 苗字. This is then followed by their
personal name, which coincidentally is referred to as namae 名前. Even as a beginner, there are certain names
that will become familiar with very quickly. Examples include the names of the Prime Minister (sōri-daijin 総理
大臣) and Japanese Royal Family (kōzoku 皇族). Perhaps you know several Japanese people or you have favorite
Japanese athlete(s) or singer(s). Whoever they are, their names count as practicing Japanese!
 English  Japanese  English  Japanese

 Jō Baiden
 Suga Yoshihide

Joe Biden  Yoshihide Suga

ジョー・バイデン 菅義偉

Keigo  Higashino Keigo

 Hirarii Kurinton

 Hillary Clinton
Higashino 東野圭吾 ヒラリー・クリントン

Place Names

Place names are perhaps even more important than personal names because everyone needs to know where
they're going. There are currently 195 countries, 50 states in the USA, and 47 prefectures of Japan. These place
names will likely form the bulk of the place names you learn in Japanese in the first few years of study. 

This isn't the extent of place names, though, as you'll also need to know how to refer to islands, mountains, lakes,
streets, etc. Especially when you go to Japan, words like Fuji-san 富士山 (Mt. Fuji) and Biwa-ko 琵琶湖 (Lake
Biwa) will be incredibly important to your touring endeavors.  

Similarly to personal names, the spellings of place names will often involve very specific Kanji. So long as you
know to pronounce the name of where you're going, you will likely have no problem getting there in Japan as
many place names will be written in English or at the very least have their names written in furigana on signs.

English  Japanese  English  Japanese

 Tokyo   Tōkyō 東京  Kyoto     Kyōto 京都

 Osaka Ōsaka 大阪  Yokohama Yokohama  横浜

 Japan  Nihon/Nippon 日本  America   Amerika アメリカ

 China   Chūgoku 中国  South Korea   Kankoku 韓国

 Asia  Ajia アジア  Europe     Yōroppa ヨーロッパ

 Africa  Afurika アフリカ  Australia Ōsutoraria   オーストラリア

 Antarctica  Nankyoku tairiku 南極大陸  India   Indo インド

A Map of Japan　日本地図

There are four main islands of Japan. The

larger island to the north is called
Hokkaidō 北海道. The slender island
extending down the whole of the country
is called Honshū  本州. The smaller island
colored in a brighter orange is called
Shikoku 四国. Then, the largest island to
the south covered mostly in red is called
Kyūshū 九州. The island chain to the south
of Kyūshū 九州 which extend all the way
out to Taiwan make up Okinawa 沖縄. The
island chain to the north of 北海道, which
are claimed by both Russia and Japan, are
known as the Chishima Rettō 千島列島. 

Japan is divided into 47 state-like divisions called prefectures. They are collectively referred to with the term
todōfuken 都道府県. -To 都 stands for capital and that prefecture is none other than Tōkyō-to 東京都 (The Tokyo
Metropolis/Prefecture). -Dō 道 is an older word similar in use to "province" and the only one with this title is
Hokkaidō 北海道, bearing the name of the island as a whole. There are two -fu 府 and they are treated as non-
capital metropolitan areas. These metropolitan prefectures are none other than Ōsaka-fu 大阪府 and Kyōto-fu 京
都府. All other prefecture ends in -ken 県.
Organization Names　組織名

Slightly overlapping with place names, knowing names of organizations such as businesses, institutions,
universities, churches, shrines, etc. will be a significant percentage of the nouns you learn. If you end up living in
Japan, you will need to know the names of stores, banks, train stations, parks, theme parks, etc. If you want to
visit that huge shrine in Izumo, you should probably know it's called Izumo Taisha 出雲大社. If you want to have
a phone, you may want to learn the names of some providers like NTT docomo. And yes, いまび counts as a
proper noun. 

English Japanese   English  Japanese

 Wikipedia  Ueno Dōbutsuen

Wikipedia  Ueno Zoo
ウィキペディア 上野動物園

 Mizuho Ginkō  Makudonarudo

 Mizuho Bank  McDonalds
みずほ銀行 マクドナルド

 Kokuren  Sebun (Irebun)

 The United Nations  7-Eleven
国連 セブンイレブン

Pronouns　代名詞

A pronoun (daimeishi 代名詞) indirectly refers to an entity that involves a person, direction, or thing. The
meaning of said entity is determined by context. For instance, proper names are pronouns because they stand in
place of the actual person/thing they reference. Proper names can also be shared with others or other things, and
so we need context to truly understand what is meant by say the name "Seth." This can refer to the creator of this
curriculum, or it can refer to any other person whose name is "Seth." Because of this, the word "Seth" is a
pronoun. 

Similarly, words like "here" and "there" or even words like "this" and "that" are also pronouns. This is because no
one can ascertain what they refer to without context.

Generally, when we think of pronouns, we think about pronouns that are used to establish grammatical person.
For instance, in English we make the following distinctions in grammatical person.
 Person　人称  Singular　単数  Plural　複数

1st Person　第一人称  I  We

 2nd Person　第二人称  You  You (all)

 3rd Person　第三人称  He/she/it  They

In English, gender and number both play roles in determining what grammatical person is used in a sentence. In
Japanese, however, there isn't a single pronoun that corresponds to each of the pronouns for grammatical
person. Meaning, there is more than one word for "I," "we," etc. This is because all pronouns in Japanese started
out as typical nouns or as vaguer words that didn't match up with the concept of pronouns in the English sense.

 In Japanese, pronouns differ by their politeness, the demographics of the speaker (age, sex, occupation), as well
as to whom the person is talking to/about. One's dialect also plays a major role in pronoun use, and many
dialectal pronouns are understood and used heavily on TV, in manga and anime, as well as literature. 

With all that being the case, it really isn't possible to just learn one word and think that you're done because
you'll need to understand what is spoken to you as well as choose the right pronoun in any given situation. For
the purposes of starting out, we will start out by working with the most essential pronouns and then return to the
topic of pronouns in Lesson 84 for more in-depth coverage.

1st Person Pronouns (I)　第一人称

There are three essential pronouns that mean "I": watashi わたし, watakushi わたくし, boku ぼく. 

■わたし（私）: All beginner texts will introduce this word as the basic word for "I." Without a doubt, it is the
best equivalent that Modern Japanese has to offer. However, its overuse is problematic as Japanese speakers
themselves hardly use it in sentences. When it does appear, the speaker is usually specifically bringing the focus
of conversation on themselves. Overall, female speakers do tend to use it more than men in casual conversation
as men prefer using other pronouns in those situations.

Plural: わたしたち

■わたくし（私）: The original form of わたし. わたくし is the preferred first person pronoun in honorific
speech. Like first person pronouns in general, it is not used constantly, but it is important to make sure you are
pairing it with respectful language. 

Plural: わたくしたち*

■ぼく（僕）: This pronoun is becoming the preferred pronoun for men of all ages, but there are situations in
which women may be heard using it. The word has very humble origins, and it is actually becoming more
commonly heard even in honorific speech (by men only). Although the word is not 'gendered' per say, Japanese
society does expect the speaker to be male for this word most of the time. 

Plural: ぼくたち

Japanese does have a way of making these pronouns plural. Without having to delve into more grammar at this
point in time, you can certainly add the suffix -tachi たち as indicated to make these words plural to mean "me,"
but as for わたくしたち, many speakers feel that わたくしども is more correct. 

2nd & 3rd Person Pronouns　第二人称と第三人称

The most important thing about second and third person pronouns you should know is when not to use them,
which is most of the time. Second person is particularly avoided. Although there are many words that mean
"you," they all have special nuances that may be easily overlooked by a beginner. Third person pronouns are no
different in having special nuances, but at least there aren't as many of them.

■あなた: This word is arguably the only word for "you" that should pertain to you as a beginner. It is understood
that you are learning, and so most natives would not fault you for using it incorrectly. Try only using this word
when you absolutely do not know the name of the person that you are talking to. It is custom in Japan to refer to
people in the third person. Even when you are asking questions like "Is this your pen?", it is more proper to ask,
"Is this Kim's pen?" despite Kim being the person you're talking to. This is simply the norm. We will eventually
come back to what sort of nuances this word has along with the many other words for "you" in Lesson 84. 

Plural: あなたたち

■かれ(彼): This is the Japanese equivalent of "he," but it is not used as much as its English counterpart because it
is custom to refer to people with their actual name and/or title. When it is used, it is often used to mean
"boyfriend" instead of "he," especially in casual conversation. 

Plural: かれら*

■かのじょ(彼女): This is the Japanese equivalent of "she" but it is not used as much as its English counterpart
for the same reason かれ isn't, the reason being that it may mean "girlfriend" in casual conversation. It is worth
noting that both かれ and かのじょ should be treated as "he" and "she" respectively during polite conversations.
Plural: かのじょたち

For reasons tied to the origins of the word itself and the possible plural markers in Japanese, かれたち is
essentially not used for "they," and in its place, かれら is overwhelmingly used. This word is actually used quite a
lot and can be used to mean "they" to describe groups of people even if women are included. However, if the
group is exclusively composed of women, then you should use かのじょたち. 
Pronouns: Places & Things 物体・場所を指す「指示代名詞」

A pronoun that refers to a place or thing is called a demonstrative. In addition to the basic pronouns for person
we just learned, you also need to learn the basic demonstrative problems to make basic conversation possible. 

Unfortunately, none of these words are used exactly like their English counterparts either. This means that we
will have to revisit this topic to truly grasp them, but for now, the goal is to get you started with the absolute
essential words. For these pronouns, the distance between the entity (place/thing) to the speaker is what will
determine which word is used.

 Close to Listener/  Far from Speaker & Listener/

Close to Speaker
Known to Speaker Only Known to Speaker & Listener

Here There  Over There

 Koko ここ  Soko そこ Asoko あそこ

 This  That   That

 Kore これ  Sore それ  Are あれ

You may have noticed earlier that "it" was not mentioned. This is because the best equivalent happens to be それ.
However, in situations in English where the word "it" would overwhelmingly be chosen, the word is simply
dropped upon translating into Japanese. 

When speaking about entities physically visible, there is a three-way distinction made based on the proximity
of the entity from the speaker and listener. An entity may be close to the speaker, close to the listener but not the
speaker, or far from both the speaker and the listener(s). When the entity discussed is not physically visible,
there is a two-way distinction made based on who knows about the entity in question. The criterion then
becomes whether only the speaker knows about the entity or if both the speaker and listener(s) know about it.

Possessive Pronouns　所有代名詞

As mentioned before, neither nouns nor pronouns conjugate in Japanese, but they do conjugate in English. The
most important conjugation that pronouns have in English is the possessive conjugation. For example, the
possessive form of "I" is "mine" and its adjective form is "my." What about in Japanese?

In Japanese, possession is expressed by simply adding the particle no の to a noun or pronoun. That's it!  
 English  Japanese  English  Japanese

 わたしの わたしの（もの）
My  わたくしの  Mine  わたくしの（もの）
 ぼくの  ぼくの （もの）

 Your  あなたの  Yours  あなたの（もの）

 His  かれの  His  かれの（もの）

 Her  かのじょの  Hers  かのじょの(もの）

Mono もの means "thing," but its presence is not necessary to create possessive pronouns. Most importantly, as
was hinted at just a moment ago, the phrases that correspond to possessive adjectives in English also function
like adjectives in Japanese, but they need to be placed before another noun. 

これはわたしのペンです。
Kore-wa watashi-no pen desu.

This is my pen.

The demonstrative pronouns can be used in a similar way, but for this/that/that over there, the final れ is
dropped before の but only if these words aren't completely taking the place of another noun. It's the difference
between "this" and "of this."

このペンはかれの（もの）です。
Kono pen-wa kare-no (mono) desu.

This pen is his.

これの意味がわかりません。
Kore no imi ga wakarimasen.

I don't know the meaning of this.

In fact, この, その, and あの are not treated as pronouns in Japanese. They are instead referred to as rentaishi 連
体詞, which form an odd group of words that are translated as pre-noun adjectival words. They only go before
nouns and they cannot undergo any sort of alteration. On the contrary, これの, それの, あれの, ここの, そこ
の, and あそこの function as typical pronoun phrases. 

We will return to learning about adjectives as well as demonstrative words several times in the near future, so
learning all this grammar now isn't too important. The point trying to be made most of all is that neither nouns
nor pronouns conjugate. The conjugations that do exist for them in English get expressed by some sort of suffix
or a particle like how we saw the particle の functioning like the word "of." 
In Conclusion　最後に...

Who would have thought that there would have been differences in how Japanese treats nouns and pronouns! 

Before we head onto learning about the copula (to be), just remember that your studying of nouns and pronouns
isn't over yet. We haven't even gotten to learn about an entire group of nouns called dummy nouns (keishiki
meishi 形式名詞) that we will have to look at later on in いまび, not to mention all the other demonstratives and
pronouns that exist. The goal here is to go through topics one at a time. For now, focus on learning the nouns
that can be made with the Kanji that you learn and try utilizing Japanese pronouns in your English for lack of
better practice until you're able to form some decent sentences.