Understanding Japanese Pronouns: A Beginner’s Guide to the 4 Types

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What do we use instead of someone or something’s name? Pronouns! Knowing how to broadly refer to people, places, and things is important when mastering a new language. Japanese pronouns add in an extra layer that English doesn’t have: insight into how you see yourself and those around you.

This guide will teach you how to express yourself and describe others simply by changing up which pronouns you use. And with the extra linguistic and cultural background, you’ll be able to expand on your Japanese lessons with Rosetta Stone to truly sound like a native Japanese speaker.

What are Japanese pronouns?

Japanese pronouns consist primarily of personal pronouns, which includes words like “me,” “you,” and “she.” The good news is that Japanese only has a few types of pronouns for you to remember, making Japanese not as hard to learn as you may have thought! Instead, Japanese has a wide variety of options for each type of pronoun that have the same meaning, but have slightly different nuances. 

This is related to a concept in Japanese language and culture known as uchi-soto (内外), which means “inside-outside.” It applies not only to pronouns, but also to Japanese greetings or Japanese verb conjugations.

Among your inner (“inside”) circle, you might use casual terminology and pronouns for yourself and your friends. Conversely, you are more likely to speak respectfully—even in a deferential way—to people “outside” your circle, such as your boss or a friend’s family member that you don’t know well. Knowing which Japanese pronouns to use is key to navigating Japanese society linguistically.

Why doesn’t Japanese always use pronouns?

Japanese pronouns are certainly used in everyday life, but it’s not unusual for a sentence about a person or thing to lack pronouns entirely. In Japanese grammar, if the subject being discussed is obvious, it’s often dropped from the sentence while still conveying the same meaning. We see this frequently with the pronouns for “I”:

• (Watashi wa) nemukute, netai desu yo.（（私は）眠くて、寝たいですよ。）= (I) am tired and (I) want to sleep!

It’s also preferable to use a person’s name in place of a second- or third-person pronoun. It’s more specific and also allows for the use of one of the many honorifics in Japanese to express the speaker’s relationship with the person being discussed.

Types of Japanese pronouns

Japanese has four main types of pronouns: personal, demonstrative, interrogative, and indefinite. Conceptually, this makes it easier for you to master pronouns compared to languages like English (which has five types of pronouns) or Spanish (which has nine types).

• Ninshou daimeishi（人称代名詞）: personal pronouns
• Shitei daimeishi（指定代名詞）: demonstrative pronouns
• Gimon daimeishi（疑問代名詞）: interrogative pronouns
• Futei daimeishi（不定代名詞）: indefinite pronouns

Japanese personal pronouns

A personal pronoun is a word used in place of a proper noun or name. This includes words to refer to yourself like “I” and “me” and words that refer to others such as “you” or “they.” In Japanese, you may be surprised to learn that you have multiple options for each type of personal pronoun!

Japanese first-person pronouns

A first-person pronoun is one that the speaker uses to refer to themselves. In English, this includes words like “I” (as the subject) or “me” (as the object). 

Japanese does not change words for pronouns based on the role the word plays in the sentence. However, there are over 30 first-person pronouns in Japanese that all refer to the speaker! Which Japanese pronoun you take depends on the social situation and how you want to present yourself. This means that a person might use a handful of words for themselves, especially in contrasting environments, like among friends or at work.

In general, watashi can be used for most situations regardless of the person speaking:

• Watashi wa hatachi desu.（私は二十歳です。）= I am 20 years old.

If a boy in elementary school were talking to his parents, he might say:

• Boku wa tamagoyaki ga suki!（僕は卵焼きが好き！）= I like rolled omelets!

You will notice that certain first-person Japanese pronouns imply gender and are “masculine” or “feminine” while others do not specify. This is because you are free to choose whichever one you like, whether it’s a gendered pronoun or not, and it will alter how you’re perceived by others. The most gender-neutral personal pronoun is watashi, but it’s not uncommon for girls who want to sound more boyish to use the gentler masculine pronoun boku. No matter which option you use for “I,” keep the social situation in mind: regardless of gender, ore is often too rough for work contexts, and watakushi is overly formal for casual conversations.

Japanese second-person pronouns

The Japanese word for “you” is one of the first pronouns to be replaced by a name or dropped completely in a sentence. Passivity and indirectness are common in the Japanese language, so the various words for “you” can be too direct. However, they’re still used when a person’s name isn’t known or in impersonal situations such as questionnaires.

In these examples, the second sentence is preferable because the person’s name is known. 

• Anata wa doitsu jin desu ka?（あなたはドイツ人ですか？）= Are you German?
• Jan wa doitsu jin desu ka?（ヤンはドイツ人ですか？）= Jan, are you (literally: Is Jan) German?

For anata in particular, there’s a contrast between Japanese learning resources and real-life situations. When introducing pronouns in Japanese language textbooks or resources, “anata” is often equated to the English “you” for examples because it’s the easiest correlation. However, anata is more likely to be used as a generic “you” on paper or as an affectionate term from a wife to a husband, similar to “dear” in English.

Japanese third-person pronouns

There are only a few specific third-person pronouns in Japanese. A person’s name is usually used instead of “he” or “she.” If the name isn’t known, then a demonstrative pronoun should be used to identify the person. 

It’s important to note that both of these words can also be used to mean “boyfriend” and “girlfriend,” respectively, although kareshi (彼氏) is more common for the former. If the person being discussed is ambiguous, it may cause some confusion.

For example, if the speaker is gesturing to another woman in the group, it will be apparent that “she” is the intended word:

• Kanojo wa isha desu.（彼女は医者です。）= She is a doctor.

However, if no particular person was referred to when the speaker is making that statement, it will sound like they are talking about their girlfriend rather than “she”:

• Kanojo wa isha desu.（彼女は医者です。）= (My) girlfriend is a doctor.

Japanese demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns in Japanese are included in another group called ko-so-a-do words because they all start with those sounds and each of those first letters indicates the relationship to the speaker.

• Ko~: close to the speaker
• So~: close to the listener
• A~: far from both the speaker and listener
• Do~: question word (interrogative/indefinite pronoun)

The first two sets of words in the chart above refer to objects, the third set usually refers to people but can also be used for objects, and the last two sets are for people. These words are the closest equivalent Japanese has to the “they” third-person personal pronoun. They are all gender-neutral, although there is a difference in politeness. Throwing in some Japanese adjectives will add emphasis to how you feel about the person!

• Kore wa sensei no kaban desu ka?（これは先生の鞄ですか？）= Is this the teacher’s bag?
• Aitsu wa iya na moto kare na no.（あいつは嫌な元カレなの。）= That guy over there is my no-good ex-boyfriend.
• Kono hito wa taisetsu na tomodachi no sakiko desu.（この人は大切な友だちの咲子です。）= This (person) is my dear friend, Sakiko.

Japanese interrogative and indefinite pronouns

The interrogative and indefinite pronouns in Japanese overlap, and are more or less referred to in this way when comparing them to Indo-European equivalents. In English, these are pronouns that answer a question, such as who, what, when, where, and why. In Japanese, they’re more commonly referred to as indefinite pronouns. 

• Dare ga kimasu ka?（だれが来ますか？）= Who is coming?
• Toire wa doko desu ka?（トイレはどこですか？）= Where is the restroom?

Does Japanese have possessive pronouns?

Rather than having specific pronouns for words like “my” or “hers,” Japanese identifies possession with a particle—one of the nine Japanese parts of speech. The particle no (の) means the word before it owns or describes what follows it.

• Watashi no namae（私の名前）= My name
• Kare no keitai（彼の携帯）= His cell phone
• Takeru no tomodachi（尊の友だち）= Takeru’s friend

Conveniently, this means there are no additional words to remember for possessive pronouns. Just add the particle no after the pronouns you already know!

What are plural Japanese pronouns?

Japanese doesn’t use plurals the same way English does, and it lacks specifically plural pronouns. In English, we add a suffix like -s or -es to the end of most words to show pluralization, or sometimes we have separate words like “mouse” and “mice.” 

Japanese doesn’t distinguish between singular and plural in the majority of cases. For example, this means that the word hon (本, book) will remain hon whether there is one book or five books. Instead, Japanese expresses plurals through quantity adverbs, exact numbers using Japanese counters, or simply context. 

However, when we talk about people, the suffixes below can be attached to names or pronouns to demonstrate that there is a group of people. Ware ware (我々) is unusual in that it means “we” on its own, but is only used in formal situations. 

• Watashitachi wa orinpiku o mimashita.（私たちはオリンピックを見ました。）= We (literally “I and the others”) watched the Olympics.
• Karera wa nihongo de hanashiteimasu.（彼らは日本語で話しています。）= They (literally “he and the others”) are speaking in Japanese.
• Michiko tachi wa issho ni toshokan de benkyou shiteimasu.（みちこ達は一緒に図書館で勉強しています。）= Michiko and the others are studying at the library together.

Master Japanese pronouns with Rosetta Stone

After discovering the versatility of Japanese pronouns, we hope you are keen to learn more about the Japanese language! When in doubt, the generic pronouns are safe go-tos, but using the more flavorful and specific pronouns will make your Japanese even more natural.

Find out how to talk about yourself using watashi from the first lesson on the Rosetta Stone app. You can also attend Live Lessons to reinforce your comprehension by listening to native speakers and practicing your pronunciation!