Is it possible to spend a day without saying ” you ” ? I guess it’s very hard in English conversation, but in Japanese, not so. In preparing this post, I realized how rarely second person pronouns take place in Japanese conversations.
No idea about 2nd person pronouns in Jpn? No problem
Second person pronouns in Japanese, such as “kimi (きみ)” or “anata (あなた)” are rarely used in daily conversations. If you have Japanese friends, ask them when the last time he or she used the pronouns was. As for me, I don’t remember. Could be years ago.
How do we talk without ” you ” in Japanese? We use verbs, adjectives, adverbs or the names of conversation partners, . One of the typical examples is ” kawaii ( pretty or cute) ! ” We don’t need to say ” anata wa kawaii ( You are pretty. ) ”
Followings are examples of without-“you” Japanese basic phrases.
( Eng ) Nice to meet you.
( Jpn ) Hajimemashite ( 初めまして )
( Eng ) Thank you.
( Jpn ) Arigatou ( ありがとう )
( Eng ) Will you tell me ～
( Jpn ) Oshietekuremasenka ( 教えてくれませんか )
When you talk in Japanese and don’t know which second person pronoun you should use, no problem. My advice : Don’t use. Instead of pronouns, say the names of the person you are talking to with “san ( さん )” . Such as ” Suzuki-san “( 鈴木さん ) In this case, using the last name of the person is recommended.
