Japanese personal pronouns

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Due to the many degrees of politeness used in Japanese speech, and differences in male and female word useage, there are also many different personal pronouns. On the other hand personal pronouns are often avoided in speech, e.g. leaving them away when speaking of oneself (and for example using an informal personal verb form), or directly using the name of the person you are speaking with (Nakamura-san wa?).

An increasing number of linguists are hesitant to classify these words as "personal pronouns" on par with those found in Indo-European and other languages, since their usage is very different. Be very careful when using pronouns in Japanese.

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Formal pronouns

  • 私: [watashi] or [watakushi] (more formal) I
  • 貴方 or あなた [anata] you
  • 彼 [kare] he (or boyfriend)
  • 彼女 [kanojo] she (or girlfriend)


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Informal pronouns

  • 僕 [boku] I
  • 俺 [ore] I
  • あたし [atashi] I
  • お前 [omae] you
  • 君 [kimi] you
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Forming the plural

Usually the plural is not explicitly mentioned in Japanese. Also personal pronouns are not given in normal sentences. However, there are plural pronouns:

  • 私たち　[watashitachi] we
  • 貴方たち　[anatatachi] you (pl.)
  • 彼ら　[karera] they (masc. or mixed)
  • 彼女ら [kanojora] they (fem.)
  • 僕ら [bokura] we
  • お前ら [omaera] you (pl.)


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