Nihongo Notes

"You" in Japanese

On Monday morning Mr. Lerner's colleagues usually ask each other if they went somewhere over the weekend. Mr Lerner once answered
    Ginza e ikimashita. Anata wa?
    (I went to Ginza. How about you?)
and was told by Miss Yoshida to use the other person's name instead of anata as in
    Ginza e ikimashita. Tanaka-san wa?
He now tries not to use anata unnecessarily, but still wonders how he should refer to someone he doesn't know in the second person.
Words corresponding to the English "you" as well as those corresponding to the "I" are left out whenever possible. For instance when asking
    Kinoo wa dokoka ni ikimashita ka.
    (Did you go somewhere yesterday?)
no word meaning "you" is used because it is obvious. If you said
    Anata wa kinoo dokoka e ikimashita ka.
it would mean "Did YOU go somewhere yesterday?" in contrast with others.
Polite expressions also serve to make communication possible without the use of a word meaning "you". When telling a stranger that he has dropped something on the street, you will say
    Anoo, nanika otosaremashita yo.
    (Excuse me, you dropped something.)
Otosareru is a polite expression referring to someone other than the speaker, so anata is not necessary. Or, more often, one says
    Anoo, nanika ochimashita yo.
    (Excuse me, something has been dropped.)
Using a sentance which does not require a word meaning "you".
But sometimes a word meaning "you" is necessary as in asking "How about you?" In such cases, the name of the other person plus a term of respect is used as in "Tanaka-san wa?" or "Michiko-san wa?"

Titles are also used; those worthy of respect are preferred to personal names, such as shachoo (company director), sensee (professor, doctor), daijin (government minister), etc. Terms indicating family relations are also used. Okusan (your wife, someone's wife), otoosan (your father, someone's father), etc. Sometimes one's situation can be used as in

    Kore, okyakusan no ja arimasen ka
    (Isn't this yours? - said to a customer by a storekeeper)
Follow this link for an index of Nihongo Notes
Nihongo Notes is taken from a series of columns that appeared in The Japan Times
written by Osamu and Nobuko Mizutani They are not designed to teach Japanese, so much
as they are to better one's Japanese.

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