Remember in the previous lesson, we finally started to see some personal singular pronouns. Today, in this new Japanese course, it is high time to see the plural of personal pronouns and while doing so we will also see the possessive adjectives which are closely related to personal pronouns in Japanese. I won’t go into details right away, but you should already know that what are named possessive adjectives are also known as possessive determinants. These are two different terms to mean exactly the same thing so you should know by now that I will only use the term « possessive adjective » from now on. In English, it is :
– My, your, his / her / its, our, their (regardless of gender or number)
You will see that in Japanese, the way of expressing the possessive adjective is quite different from English but is really very easy, you will quickly realize that when we get there.
For now, let’s focus on the first part of this course : the plural of Japanese personal pronouns.
As we saw at the very beginning of season two when we started to create our first sentences in Japanese, the plural is suggested. We know the nouns do not put in the plural and so far, we have never addressed the subject in Japanese.
That said, we’ve seen that it is possible to make the interlocutor understand the idea that there are several things through the use of certain adverbs that suggest this idea and also through the use of numeral classifiers. For the rest, it is mainly the context which, in the majority of the sentences we have studied so far, can make us understand that a sentence is plural.
We never needed to say that nouns were in the plural, but we will see now that it is entirely possible. It is high time that we broached the subject so let’s start without delay with the plural suffix 達 . たち :
達 .
たち → (plural suffix, formal)
We will use this plural suffix after personal pronouns to mean that they are plural. And we’re going to start from a very simple first example, we’re going to learn how to say « we ». Observe below how the personal pronoun is written and pronounced « we » in Japanese :
私達 .
わたしたち → We (first person plural, formal)
We therefore used the personal pronoun 私 . わたし that we already knew and we added the plural suffix 達 . たち to it. Very simple, I told you.
Well, 私 . わたし, it is the most classic personal pronoun, the most common to say « I » but if I use the personal pronoun 僕 . ボク to speak of myself, and now I mean « we » in Japanese. I’ll just say :
僕達 .
ボクたち → We (first person plural, mark of modesty, used mainly by little boys and adults)
And it is the same with the personal pronoun 俺 . おれ :
俺達 .
おれたち → We (first person plural, with some pretension, used mostly by men and adolescents)
For the second person plural we do the exact same thing :
あなた達 .
あなたたち → You (second person plural, formal)
君達 .
きみたち → You (second person plural, generally used when the speaker is of equal or lower level than the interlocutor)
Etcetera, all the personal pronouns corresponding to the second person singular to which you add 達 . たち.
When talking to a group, you will use the personal pronoun あなた, 君 . きみ… will relate to the person you are talking to by including them in a group.
Let’s say you have a friend who is a kitchen assistant working with a team in a restaurant and you ask him : « what are you cooking today ? ». Depending on the relationship you have with this friend, if you are in the habit of calling him 君 . きみ in general, in this case, you will say 君達 . きみたち to talk about the whole group that your friend is in. You address your friend by including them in a group. Understand that, in this case, the personal plural pronoun that you are going to use depends on the relationship you have with the person to whom you are speaking.
Then, if you want to talk to the group in a general way, without defining a particular person in it, in this case you will consider the group at large, あなた達 . あなたたち, or even 君達 . きみたち if you are close to everyone in the group.
By the way, going back to the first-person plural, if you are used to talking about yourself using 私 . わたし, you’ll use 私達 . わたしたち speaking of yourself and the group of which you belong, even though there may well be within this same group individuals who, defining themselves by the personal pronoun 俺 . おれ will say 俺達 . おれたち to talk about them and the group they are a part of, including you. In this case, understand that it is the personal pronoun with which you individually define yourself that matters.
Finally, for the third person plural, you will easily guess, it will be :
彼達 . かれたち → They (third person plural, formal, male)
彼女達 . かのジョたち → They (third person plural, formal, female)
Now how do we do when we have a group of men, but of a minority of women or conversely a group of women composed of a minority of men ?
You may have a group of women with only one man in it, since women are the majority in the group, it would be better to say 彼女達 . かのジョたち. Then, if you want to avoid any dilemma, you might as well say この人達 . このひとたち to say « these persons » without specifying their genre because, of course the plural suffix 達 . たち can also be used on names for human beings.
Take for example the word 戦士 . センシ (warrior). If we want to specify « warriors » in the plural, we could quite use the plural suffix, which gives us 戦士達 . センシたち. Like what, we can use the plural suffix 達 . たち on nouns designating humans, but also animals and everything that is referenced by the verb to be, いる in Japanese.
It also happens that some people use the same plural suffix for objects, which in principle is not correct, or sometimes perceived as bizarre, but very possible grammatically speaking. It is a way of showing an emotional attachment to an object that is of value to its owner. It can be a jewel, a book, a work of art... absolutely any object as long as its owner shows it a certain degree of affection to the point of giving it a human value. This kind of things exist, of course, in English and in any other language elsewhere.
The plural suffix 達 . たち can also be used on proper nouns to say « and the others » or « and company ». For example, if we mean « Bandai and the others » or « Bandai and company », we’ll write :
万代達 . バンダイたち
So, I’m talking about Bandai and the group of which Bandai himself is a part.
If you have a good memory and review your lessons regularly, you may remember that this kanji, the plural suffix 達 . たち, you have already seen it in the word 友達 . ともだち. In this word, the « た » become a « だ » but it is indeed the same kanji. Although the word 友達 . ともだち contains the plural suffix, it may, depending on the context of the sentence, designate only one person and not necessarily several. This word can be singular or plural, designating a friend or several friends. Simply, the word was created like that and is frozen today. However, if you want to specify in your sentence that there are several friends, you can use an adverb of quantity like 沢山 . タクサン or a numeral classifier.
As was the case with personal pronouns, we will now see that there are other Japanese plural suffixes that are much less used, but very useful to express nuances. Don’t worry, you will understand.
The plural suffix 達 . たち is considered formal, that is, the one that we will use in general. But in fact, who considers the plural suffix 達 . たち like formal ? Well, the answer is quite simple; it depends on the people. You may have people who consider the plural suffix 達 . たち as formal while others will consider it as informal, that is, according to these people, this suffix is not polite and it would be better not to use it… but, again, it mostly depends on people.
That being said, for this course I invite you to consider the suffix 達 . たち like formal ; moreover, this is how I consider it myself, and in everyday life it is used the most.
Then you have the plural suffix 等 . ら which is demeaning. This suffix will be used more with informal personal pronouns.
For example, when an individual calls out to a group of people by saying お前等 . おまえら. The personal pronoun お前 . おまえ means « you (singular) » and we could say お前達 . おまえたち to say « you (plural) » by talking to a group of people. The plural personal pronoun お前達 . おまえたち is rather correct, on the other hand to say お前等 . おまえら will be seen as very vulgar.
Another personal pronoun, 手前等 . てめえら, is considered a cut above in vulgarity. This pronoun is very familiar and can even be considered an insult in some cases. Of course, you will understand that its singular is 手前 . てめえ, just as potentially vulgar.
Then you have the personal pronoun 貴様 . きさま and its plural 貴様等 . きさまら, which are also considered rude, insulting depending on the context, or, in any case, an extremely familiar form of « you (singular) » and « you (plural) ».
Clarification : you will no doubt have noticed the term 様 . さま and most of you may already know that 様 . さま is, in principle, an honorific suffix, the most respectful one can give to anyone. A little later you will have a course on Japanese honorary suffixes, but in any case, remember what has been said above.
Finally, you have the personal pronoun 奴等 . やつら which is equivalent to the third person plural and which, you guessed it, is often very pejorative. The kanji 奴 can be translated as « the guy » ; it can also refer to a female person. The kanji 奴 in itself is already very pejorative. For example, if you say :
この奴 .
このやつ → This guy here
その奴 .
そのやつ → That guy there
あの奴 .
あのやつ → That guy over there
It means « this guy » or even « this girl » speaking in a tone very contemptuous generally.
It will be exactly the same in the plural :
この奴等 .
このやつら → These guys here
その奴等 .
そのやつら → These guys there
あの奴等 .
あのやつら → These guys over there
It means « these guys » or even « these chicks », speaking again in a very vulgar tone in general.
The plural suffix 等 . ら can also be used on oneself out of modesty, to talk about one’s group or even one’s family in a humble way.
At this point, we touch something that is very unique to Japanese culture. When you use the suffix 等 . ら on others, it is demeaning, degrading and even mean, you devalue others; on the other hand, when you use it on yourself, you lower yourself to make yourself very small in front of your interlocutor who finds himself valued. It’s really something that is quintessentially Japanese, which may not be easy to grasp at first glance for Westerners, but that’s how it works.
So, imagine that I designate myself on a daily basis by using 僕 . ボク and that I use the plural suffix 等 . ら, this gives us :
僕等 .
ボクら
僕 . ボク being already at the base a humble personal pronoun and using the plural suffix 等 . ら about oneself being a mark of modesty, it reinforces that aspect of humility when I speak about my own group.
Then there is also the personal pronoun 俺 . おれ to designate oneself and with the plural suffix 等 . ら, this gives us :
俺等 .
おれら.
Here, there is a little something which can seem quite contradictory since 俺 . おれ is equivalent to the first person singular to say « I », « me » but with some pretension while the suffix 等 . ら, as we have seen, is a mark of modesty, of humility when it is used on oneself. As a reminder, the personal pronoun 俺 . おれ is typically masculine, very rarely used by females except for sometimes tomboys or in any case girls, teenagers and women who adopt this personal pronoun considered to be typically masculine in order to impose themselves, without being tomboys.
Despite this contradiction which will surprise some of you, remember in any case that this personal pronoun exists.
The plural suffix 共 . とも is also a demeaning suffix and, when you want to use it on yourself, it only works with the personal pronoun 私 . わたし, which gives us :
私共 . わたしども → Youngers (« you (plural) », here it is a mark of modesty.)
It is therefore, as we saw above with the suffix 等 . ら, a mark of modesty in the face of an interlocutor. We put ourselves down to be very polite to our interlocutor.
However, we will mostly use the plural suffix 共 . とも on names to designate people in a superior way by making them inferior. For example, if I apply the suffix 共 . とも has a word like 後輩 . コウハイ which means « younger », that gives me :
後輩共 . コウハイども → Youngers (in the plural and demeaning them while making them feel my superiority.)
Another term is 野郎 . ヤロウ which can mean « the guy » or even « rascal », « bastard ». This word is very often used as an insult but can also be used to address someone, either in a very contemptuous way (you are looking for a fight), or to address your friends, your companions but in a register very offensive language. Even in this context, it still remains an insult. For example, let’s say I’m a juvenile delinquent and I talk to my guys telling them :
野郎共 . ヤロウども → Bunch of bastards (in the plural and demeaning them while making them feel my superiority. Can be used to provoke)
野郎 . ヤロウ can also act as the second person singular like 手前 . てめえ or 貴様 . きさま. Keep in mind that this personal pronoun is still very rude so not to be used with just anyone.
There is another use of 共 . とも which is a bit apart. For example, if I mean « both », I will say : 二人共 . ふたりとも. Here, the kanji 共 . とも doesn’t have any demeaning character, it is just a phrase to learn by heart.
I give you two example sentences below :
二人ともはロックンロールのファンだ。
ふたりともはロックンロールのファンだ。
We are both rock’n roll fans.
二人とも薬屋に行く？
ふたりともくすりやにいく？
Do you two go to the pharmacy ?
Of course, it will be the same for saying « all three », « all four », « all five »… I put these three below for you :
三人共 .
サンニンとも → all three
四人共 .
よんニンとも → all four
五人共 .
ゴニンとも → all five
The following plural suffix is 方 . かた that we will often pronounce がた by putting a dakuten on the か. This plural suffix is very formal and will only be used on the second person singular, あなた, which gives us :
あなた方 . あなたがた
It is also used on nouns, for example :
先生 . センセイ . « the teacher » becomes 先生方 . センセイがた . « the teachers »
お客様 . おキャクさま . « the customer » becomes お客様方 . おキャクさまがた . « the customers ».
Keep in mind, though, that we’ll be using more 方 . かた with the second person singular, あなた方 . あなたがた, to say « we ».
You will have noticed the prefix お in お客様 . おキャクさま that I colored in red for you. This is a prefix that I will discuss more about in a course on this topic and that we will see very soon elsewhere. So, for now, learn this word as it is.
And then, finally, sometimes repeating a kanji with this symbol, 々, which we have already seen a little while ago in the course on Japanese punctuation, also to express the plural.
As a reminder :
々 = repetition of the previous kanji.
Ex : 正正堂堂 → 正々堂々.
Ex : 時時 → 時々
Ex : 神神 → 神々
Namely, 時 . とき means « the time ». And 時々 . ときどき means « from time to time ».
神 . かみ means « the god, the divinity » in the singular. And 神々 . かみがみ means « the gods, the deities » in the plural.
And we can do the same with 人 . ひと which means « the person » in the singular. By repeating the kanji, it gives us 人々 . ひとびと which means « the peoples » in the plural.
We can also say 方々 . かたがた which means « the peoples » in the plural but in a more polite way.
You will have noticed that we have dakuten which is often added to the first hiragana of the second kanji :
時々 .
ときどき
神々 .
かみがみ
人々 .
ひとびと
方々 .
かたがた
And we will also use the repeat symbol to create the personal pronoun 我々 . われわれ. It’s a way of saying « we » that is unique to 我 . われ. Unlike other personal pronouns, 我 . われ being an old term, it has its own plural. 我 . われ being a very formal way of saying « I », 我々 . われわれ therefore means « we » in an equally formal way.
And I end by giving you a last example which will illustrate a slightly different use of 々 :
日々 . ひび . Day / day after day, every day
Here, the symbol of repetition expresses the idea of plural if we translate 日々 . ひび by « the days » but can also be translated as « day after day », « every day ». In this second translation, there is not the idea of plural but rather the idea of accumulation.
This example shows that the repetition symbol 々 is not always used to express the idea of plural, but can also be used to express the idea of accumulation. Keep this in mind.
This give me the opportunity to come back to another example we saw above : 時々 . ときどき which means « from time to time ». Here again, we can see that there is no idea of the plural.
Before moving on to the last part of this course, I would like to take this opportunity to quickly come back to the plural suffix 等 . ら and its use with demonstrative prefixes こ・そ・あ・ど, especially with the ending れ to designate a concrete or abstract thing.
Obviously, the demonstrative nouns これ, それ, あれ and どれ make it possible to speak of something in the singular as well as in the plural, but if we want to clarify that what we are talking about is in the plural, we will use the plural suffix 等 . ら.
For example, if we mean « these », depending on the position of this something in relation to the speaker, or to the interlocutor or if this something is far from both, we’ll say :
これら → These (designates things close to the speaker or belonging to him.)
それら → These (designates things close to the speaker or belonging to him.)
あれら → These (designate things far removed from both or which do not belong to either, objects far away.)
どれら → Which ? Which ones ? (to ask a question about things.)
The same goes for a word like こいつ which means « this guy » or « this person ». We put 等 . ら and this gives us :
こいつら → These guys, these people
We can also use the plural suffix 等 . ら with the demonstrative prefixes こ・そ・あ・ど and the ending こ to designate a place. By adding the plural suffix 等 . ら, I do not designate several places in the plural but a larger place, always depending on the position of this place in relation to that of the speaker, the interlocutor or if this larger place is far from both. So, we’ll say :
ここら → These surroundings
そこら → These surroundings
あそこら → These surroundings
We can reinforce the idea of the surroundings by adding the kanji 辺 . ヘン which in itself means « the neighborhood », « the proximity », « the zone ». So, this gives us :
ここら辺 → These surroundings here
そこら辺 → These surroundings there
あそこら辺 → These surroundings over there
We are now done with the plural in Japanese. We will now see the possessive adjectives. Don’t worry, this last part will be short and it’s super easy, you’ll see.
Remember, we have seen further back that we can think of all personal pronouns as nouns. And so, we can use them with the particle の to express possession. See below, it’s very simple. I give you below a very simple example of possession with the particle の :
エリーの剣。
エリーのつるぎ。
Ellie’s sword.
If now we want to say « my sword », by following the pattern of the particle の which is : Possessor + の + Possessed, my sentence will be :
My sword → the sword of mine → 私の剣, 俺の剣
And we can continue like this for all personal pronouns :
Your sword → the sword of you → あなたの剣, 君の剣, お前の剣
His / Her sword → the sword of him → 彼の剣
→ the sword of her → 彼女の剣
Our sword → the sword of us → わたくしどもの剣
Your sword → the sword of you → あなたたちの剣, 君たちの剣
Their sword → the sword of them → 彼らの剣
→ the sword of them → 彼女たちの剣
→ the sword of them → 貴様らの剣
So, concretely, there are no possessive adjectives in Japanese, although that’s how we call this grammatical notion in English. Strictly speaking, in Japanese there are no words for « my », « your », « his / her / its », « our » and « their ». Everything is done with the personal pronoun / possessor + the particle の + the name of the possessed.
That said, be careful when you have a possessive adjective in possession. If I take the following sentence :
My friend’s sword.
→ the sword of the friend of mine
→ 私の友達の剣。
Well, you see that the sentence is already a bit more complex. And we can end up with many possessions tangled into each other, which can result in a pretty mess. Therefore, be very careful when you have a sentence that mixes several possessions so that you don’t get confused.
Finally, in Japanese, we will not have any problem repeating the same personal pronoun several times. Observe the following sentence :
We sell our musical instruments.
僕たちは僕たちの楽器を売る。
This sentence poses no problem. We can easily repeat the same personal pronoun twice. Of course, if the context allows it, it is quite possible to remove the 僕たちの if the musical instruments we are selling are our own and do not need to be specified.
Otherwise, if there is no context to say that the musical instruments are ours, we’ll repeat the 僕たちの.
Finally, the personal pronoun 我 . われ has a unique way of becoming a possessive adjective. For now, take a look at the example below. If I mean « I have a horse ». And already know that the word « horse » is important, below I explain :
我が馬 . わがうま → My horse (note that the kanji 我 is simply pronounced わ in a possession with the particle が.)
Eh yes! In the old days the particle が was used to express possessive, and I mean « was ». This is not the case today, you know now, the Japanese use the particle の to express the possession.
However, just in case, if you come across a formulation with 我 . われ + particle が which looks like a possession, don’t be surprised. This is rather rare these days but if, for example, you read a manga set in feudal times and the author wanted to be very respectful on the people of the time’s way of talking, you can affectively come across an expression like that. You can also find this very formal expression in video games.
Moreover, this sentence, 我が馬 gave rise to the adjective invariable :
我儘 . わがまま → selfish, capricious (very rare in kanji, very common in hiragana)
A new course completed ! All I have to do is give you your exercises, as always theme and version. You will have to use the personal plural pronouns that we have seen in this course as well as the possessive adjectives. I also slipped in a few things from previous lessons, so be careful. In the first exercise, read the sentences in English carefully as well as the indications given to you in order to know which personal pronoun corresponds best.
Well, there is nothing more to say except work well, train diligently as usual... I’m so tired of giving you roughly the same conclusion but, frankly, what can I tell you else ? (é_é). Hope to see you very soon for the next course. Most importantly, have fun learning, that’s the most important.
Happy revisions to everyone.
Introduction