Pronouns

1.Personal Pronouns

First Person Pronouns

The following words can be used to say "I" in Japanese:
watashi 私
boku 僕
ore 俺
ore-sama 俺様

The above are the most common, but there are other first pronouns too.

Second Person Pronouns

The following words can be used to say "you" in Japanese:
anata あなた
kimi 君

omae お前
temee てめぇ
kisama 貴様

There are immense differences between the words above.

Sometimes kono この means "you" when swearing. See kono yarou この野郎.

Third Person Pronouns

The following word can be used to say "he" in Japanese:
kare 彼

And this is how you'd say "she" in Japanese:

kanojo 彼女

Besides the above, the pronoun aitsu あいつ is sometimes used with a meaning similar
to "he."
The following demonstrating pronouns mean "this person," "that person," but can be
understood as "me," "you," ""he," or "she" depending on context.
kono hito, sono hito, ano hito このひと, そのひと, あのひと
kono ko, sono ko, ano ko この子, その子, あの子
kocchi, socchi, acchi こっち, そっち, あっち
kochira, sochira, achira こちら, そちら, あちら

konata, sonata, anata こなた, そなた, あなた

This anata means "he" and it's archaic.
The modern anata means "you" instead.
"It"
There's no Japanese equivalent for the pronoun "it." See the article "It" in Japanese for
examples of how the functions of "it" in English translate to Japanese.

2. Demonstrative Pronouns

This, that, here, there, etc. in Japanese are expressed through the kosoado kotoba.
This, That, What
To say the nouns "this," "that," and "what" in Japanese:
kore これ
sore それ

are あれ
dore どれ

To say the adjectives "this," "that," and "what" in Japanese:

kono この

sono その
ano あの

dono どの

There are certain Japanese words like kou こう, konna こんあ, kochira こちら, and others.
that also mean "this," "that," and "what," each with a different nuance. See kosoado
kotoba for details.
Here, There, Where
To say "this," "there," and "where" in Japanese:
koko ここ
soko そこ
asoko あそこ

doko どこ

3. Possessive Pronouns

There are no words for "my," "his," "her," "their" in Japanese. There are no words for
"mine," "hers," and "theirs" either.

Instead, the no の particle is used together with a pronoun to express what it possesses.
For example:
ore no kane 俺の金
My money.
anata no yume あなたの夢
Your dream.
kare no nozomi 彼の望み
His wish.
kanojotachi no kimochi
彼女たちの気持ち
Their feelings.

Interrogative Sentences

In English, the interrogative words are “what”, “who”, “when”, “how”, etc.
Basic Japanese interrogative words are the following.
In English, interrogative word is put at the head of the sentence.
Therefore, the order of words is changed for the interrogative word.

But, in Japanese, interrogative word is treated exactly the same way as pronoun you have
ever learned.
So, it is OK that you put the word at the position of the case in the frame.
In that sense, you can make a interrogative sentence with clear structure by the frames of
Japanese sentence.
Of course, remember that you must put “ka?” at the end of the sentence.

What
Japanese words equivalent to “what” in English are “nani” and “nan”.
“Nani” is used as subject and object, and “nan” is used as complement before “desu”.
When “nani” is used in subject, “ga” is always used as the particle because the interrogative
word is highlighted in the sentence. You can never use “wa” and “mo”.
And “nani” can be used in the other additional phrases such as adverbial phrase with “de”,
“ni”, “kara”.

(Ex.) What is the answer of this question?

“Answer”, “question” in English are “kotae”, “shitsumon” in Japanese.

1) The case putting in subject part

Nani ga kono shitsumon no kotae desu ka?

2) The case putting in complement part

Kono shitsumon no kotae wa nan desu ka?

Who, whom, whose 誰

These are the interrogative pronouns about person. It is the same as “nani” to use them.

In English, “who” is changed to “whom” as objective case and “whose” as possessive case.
But particles determine the case in Japanese. Therefore, you only have to learn “dare”.

“Dare” is a basic word but has no respects.

It is used among family, friends, colleague. And it is also used for a person in the
conversation about a topic unrelated to you.
Instead of “dare”, “donata” is a safe word with respect.
I recommend to use this word.

(Ex.4) Who is a nurse?

1) At subject
Donata ga kangoshi desu ka?

2) At complement
Kangoshi wa donata desu ka?

When いつ
Hiragana Pronounciation: いつ
Romanization: itsu

You put itsu in the front of the sentence this time. then, you put the thing that might take place and
finally, か.

いつ + (event/thing/time) + か = When is (event/thing/time)?

To ask "What time is it?" in Japanese, say 何時ですか？(nan ji desu ka?).

Example sentence:

いつアメリカに来ますか? itsu amerikani kirei masuka?

When did you come to the U.S.?

Where どこ
Hiragana Pronounciation: どこ
Romanization: doko

You put doko in the front of です. Then, add the location before doko and insert か at the end. The
polite form of doko is どちら (dochira)。

You sometimes might also find a hiragana character, に or には, after the location is mentioned. This is
called a particle. Go to the "About" section under "Particles" to learn more.

(location) + どこ + です ＋ か

Example sentences:
日本どこですか？ nihon doko desu ka?
Where is Japan?

学校どこですか？ gakko doko desu ka?

Where is (the) school?

If you want to say something like 'Where is she going?" or "Where did you buy that?", you need to
replace the です with the action you are asking about.

Think of it like (location or subject) + どこ + (verb)* ＋ か

For example, if you wanted to say

*In order to do this, you need to know how to conjugate the verb (activity) into the proper tense and
politeness. Visit the "About" (scroll to the top of the page) section under "Conjugating Verbs" to learn
how to do this.

Here are some example sentences:

サラはどこ行きましたか？ sara wa doko ikimashita ka?

Where did Sarah go?

この本がどこ買ったか？ kono hon ga doko katta ka?

Where did you buy that book?

Why どうして
Hiragana Pronounciation: どうして
Romanization: doushite

To say why, put doushite in the first, then the thing you are questioning about, and finally んですか.

どうして + (subject being questioned) + ん + です＋か =

Why is/are (subject being questioned)?

Example sentence:
どうして残していますか？doushite nokoshite imasu ka?
Why are you leaving?

Which
“Which” is the interrogative pronoun to select more than one thing.
In Japanese, “dochira” and “docchi” are used.
“Docchi” is a little more colloquial-sounding than “dochira”, but both are OK.
These are used as subject, object, complement and adverbial phrase.

When “which” is used, optional phrase such as “A or B” is often added.

In Japanese, English “or” is “ka”, and “and” is “to”.
“Or” is generally used in English, but both “ka” and “to” are used in Japanese because the
logicality of Japanese is not so high.
The patterns are the following.

> A ka B ka dochira
> A to B to dochira
> A ka B no dochira
> A to B no dochira

(Ex.7) Which is a nurse, Yumi or Haruka?

Yumi to Haruka no dochira ga kangoshi desu ka?

(Ex.8) Which do you eat, sushi or sukiyaki?

Sukiyaki is a famous Japanese food boiling sliced beef and vegitables in a pot.
The interrogative pronoun is at the part of object.