How to say “You” in Japanese

How to say “You” in Japanese

あなた /anata/
– Used if you’re trying to show respect to the person you’re addressing.
– May be used when having no information about the addressed person.
– Commonly used by women to address their husband or lover.

おまえ (お前) /omae/
– Very informal and often used with「おれ」/ore/.
– Used if you’re very close to the person you’re addressing and on the same level or above.
– Very rude if said to elders or superiors.
– Commonly used by men to address their wife or lover.

あんた /anta/
– Used if you’re above the person you’re addressing.
– Can express contempt, anger or familiarity towards a person.
– Both「あなた」and「あんた」when used by women to men can be seen as a step towards familiarity but「あんた」is used in a cutesy way.
– Generally seen as rude or uneducated when used in formal contexts.

きみ (君) /kimi/
– Informal to subordinates but can also be affectionate.
– Used if you’re above the person you’re addressing.
– Often seen as rude when used with superiors, elders or strangers.
– Used with「ぼく」/boku/.

てめぇ /teme~e/ – てまえ /temae/ (手前)
– Rude and confrontational.
– Used when the speaker is really angry.
– Often used by manly males (but manly, strong females can also use it).
– 「てめぇ」is a reduction of「てまえ」and more rude.

おたく (お宅) /otaku/
– A polite way of saying “your house”.
– Used as a pronoun to address a person with slight sense of distance.
– Have turned into a slang term referring to a type of geek/obsessive hobbyist.

きさま (貴様) /kisama/
– Extremely hostile and rude
– Mainly used by males.
– Show the speaker’s extreme hostility / outrage towards the addressee.

Related Post:
Short Japanese sentence patterns
Useful and Important Japanese Phrases List