When should we use 「あなた」(anata)?
The word 「あなた」is translated as ‘YOU’ and often used in Japanese textbooks, but in real life, we use this word only in specific occasions.
I’d like to show you 4 ways to use 「あなた」
1. From a wife to her husband
A wife call her husband 「あなた」to show intimacy
2. To place emphasize it’s ‘YOU’ I’m talking to
Imagine there are two persons: Asan and Bsan and they usually call their names each other.
When Asan uses 「あなた」to Bsan, Asan wants Bsan to pay attention to what Asan is going to say.
3. When we don’t know their names
We use 「あなた」instead of calling their names when we don’t know them.
[NOTE] In case of No2 and No3, it’s possible to use if one person is in higher positions such as: from a teacher to a student, from a doctor to a patient, from a boss to a subordinate. But it’s very rude to use 「あなた」from lower position to higher position.
If a person in lower position wants to call a person in higher position, he must always call their names or their titles like 「先生」(sensei: teacher), 「部長」(buchou: general manager) and 「係長」(kakari-chou: group leader)
4. In books or advertisements, toward the public
We often see 「あなた」in books, posters in trains and so on. In this case, 「あなた」is unspecific public who may read them.
As I showed you above, we don’t use 「あなた」as you use ‘YOU’ in English. When you call a Japanese, I recommend to remember their names and use “family name + san” like 「田中さん」(tanaka-san)「佐藤さん」(satou-san). It is the most common and safe way to call persons.
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Corrections · 3
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When should we use 「あなた」(anata)?
The word 「あなた」("Anata") is usually translated into English as ‘YOU’ and it is frequently often used in Japanese textbooks, but in real life, we use this word only in rare, specific occasions.I’d like to show you 4 ways to use 「あなた」
1. From a wife to her husband
A wife will call her husband 「あなた」to show intimacy
2. To place emphasize it’s ‘YOU’ I’m talking to*
Imagine there are two persons: Asan and Bsan and they usually call their names each other.
When Asan uses 「あなた」to Bsan, Asan wants Bsan to pay attention to what Asan is going to say.
3. When we don’t know their names
We use 「あなた」instead of calling their names when we don’t know them.
[NOTE] In case of No2 and No3, it’s possible to use if one person is in higher positions such as: from a teacher to a student, from a doctor to a patient, from a boss to a subordinate. But it’s very rude to use 「あなた」from lower position to higher position.
If a person in lower position wants to call a person in higher position, he must always call their names or their titles like 「先生」(sensei: teacher), 「部長」(buchou: general manager) and 「係長」(kakari-chou: group leader)
4. In books or advertisements, toward the public
We often see 「あなた」in books, posters in trains and so on. In this case, 「あなた」is unspecific public who may read them.
As I showed you above, we don’t use 「あなた」as you use ‘YOU’ in English. When you call address** a Japanese person, I recommend to that you remember their names and use “family name + san” like 「田中さん」(tanaka-san)「佐藤さん」(satou-san). It is the most common and safe way to call address persons people.
This is a very interesting article. Because English-speakers use pronouns so frequently, it's difficult for us to learn that Japanese uses them only on rare occasions.
* This is similar to the way, in English, a person would say "Hey You!" to get another person's attention.
** "Call" is correct. But in writing and formal speech, we often use "address" (= 宛てる).
When I watched the Japanese TV drama "Trick," I was surprised when 阿部寛 (Abe Hiroshi) addressed 仲間由紀恵 (Nakama Yukie) as "You" - in English! I soon realized that this was for comedy effect, to show how rude Abe-san's character was being toward Nakama-san.
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Steve san
Thank you for reading my article.
Yes, it only goes from the wife to her husband.
If the husband calls his wife, 「君」(kimi) corresponds to 「あなた」but it's not often used and 「君」doesn't show intimacy.
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Very interesting. In Case #1, it only goes from the wife to husband? A husband doesn't call his wife "you"?
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