ore, boku, watashi?

Hello, I have many questions about how Japanese use "I", I do know that each "I" means something like "ore" is when you reffer to your self as the boss or something similar, but I use "boku" and I use it all the time, but do japanese switch from ore,boku,watashi and more depending on the situation or do they just choose one like I did? Like listening to a japanese song, when the singer uses "boku" he was talking about himself in a depressing way but then, in the same song, he got made and reffer to himself as "ore" because he felt as if he were on a higher rank and no one can stop him.

When Japanese are introducing youself, they always say "watashi"

for example: "watashi wa Rin desu"

Never in my life I heard a japanese person say "Boku wa Rin desu" or "Ore wa Rin desu"
Is it weird in japan to use boku or ore for that purpose.


Last question, a native Japanese person taught me that I don't have to say "watshi wa Rin desu", I can just use "Rin desu" which is fine for introducing yourself for the first or when some ask you for you name, But what if you want to tell someone your name, wouldn't you say "watashi wa Rin desu" because if you just say "rin desu" would the person know what you are talking about?


Thank you for answers.

俺 and 僕 are informal, whereas 私 is more neutral. By definition, when you are introducing yourself to someone, you do not know that person well, so any kind of informal speech would be considered rude (an exception would be if the other person is obviously of inferior status, for example if he or she is much younger than you).

if you just say "rin desu" would the person know what you are talking about?

Of course, isn't it obvious?

I know ore is informal, but I had no idea that boku was informal, I thought it had respect in it.

if you just say "rin desu" would the person know what you are talking about?

what I mean't by this is If I didn't tell you my name the first time we met, because of certain situations, then we start talking about traveling, I can't say "Rin desu" when we are talking about travel before, it is a differnet subject so I should say watashito clearify things, correct?

That's a silly hypothetical. You always introduce yourself first.

That's a silly hypothetical. You always introduce yourself first.

Back in the real world sometimes introductions get overlooked, especially during casual gatherings. But even in that case you'll probably want some sort of transition into your introduction.

"Boku" is the most formal term that young boys should use. "Watashi" would sound too snooty if you're say 14 years old or younger.

But if you're an adult, especially someone who is no longer a schoolboy, you should use "watashi" in formal situations such as job interviews, even if you're a male.

In fact, I can't really recall a native Japanese saying "Watashi wa (his/her name) desu." If someone introduces you saying "This is Rin." then Rin just says "Rin desu. Yoroshiku." or something. If there's no one else to introduce Rin and he is introducing himself, then it's most typical to say "Rin to iimasu" (I am called Rin) or the more formal "Rin to moushimasu."

But while name introductions come first in most if not all Western countries, in Japan you can go on almost forever without knowing the other party's name. That person would just be a nice guy you happen to see and talk to all the time without knowing his phone number.

But while name introductions come first in most if not all Western countries, in Japan you can go on almost forever without knowing the other party's name. That person would just be a nice guy you happen to see and talk to all the time without knowing his phone number.

Earlier this year, I entered a traditional teahouse in Kakegawa for a quick break from sightseeing and started conversing with a Japanese traveller who was sitting nearby. By the end of the fairly lengthy exchange, we both knew where each other worked, what sort of jobs we had, where we were from, where in Japan we'd been and where we were going next, even snippets about family life and whatnot . . .

. . . but not once did we ever mention our names.

See, I knew sometimes under certain conditions you would need to introduce a new subject.

I am 16, I like Boku because I thought it had respect towards the other person you speak to.

To: Uco


I actually saw a japanese movie and the japanese girl ask a guy for his name and he said his name,"adam" not "adam desu" and the japanese girl said "watashi wa (name) desu"

The guy was older if that helps, also they are both native japanese in real life but in the movie the guy is from England.

I actually saw a japanese movie and the japanese girl ask a guy for his name and he said his name,"adam" not "adam desu" and the japanese girl said "watashi wa (name) desu"

That's not an introduction. That's a reply. In other words, it wasn't a "Hi, I'm Eve." It was "Oh, okay, well, my name (as opposed to your name) is Eve."

Meanwhile, the reason she used "desu" in spite of he not using it is because, as you said, he is older.

But the truth is, fictional dialogs aren't always realistic. In real life you can get away with "Adam." "Eve." I think movies tend to add an extra tone.

Didn't you say you've been studying Japanese for 2 years? Not to be rude but this is stuff which is covered in the first few weeks of class. Hope you're not learning Japanese by watching anime.

Yeah...you said you've supposedly been learning for two years but you've littered this forum with basic questions. Maybe take a look at all of the basic Japanese learning websites across the web.

Excuse me both of you up there, I haven't took Japanese serious back then as I do today, all I learned back then was Hiragana,katakana,numbers,particles and so furth, and all the questions I asked are things never explained by teaching source, text books tell you to say "watashi wa name desu" and "hajimemashite" and the end, never explaining the different "I's" never explaning full sentence structure, they always give you te form sentences. That is why I need help.

Fair enough, I was just wondering why a 2nd year student would be confounded by such basic concepts. Seems to me you should be familiar with sentence structure and keigo by now.

Are you attending classes or studying on your own?

Well in that case, I took a French class for about a week in high school, and a Spanish class too. I guess I've been learning French and Spanish for 6 years! See what I mean?

You are being disingenuous about the content of your questions though. I looked at one of your recent questions which asks about the use of "kara". Are you saying kara is never explained by textbooks or other teaching sources? Because that's not true.

To: Seiko

Yes I have been studying on my own, I asked my guidence counselor if could take Japanese as my language for highschool... I ended up in Chinese... To show you, I am alittle better at Chinese that Japanese but that's starting to change(thanks to the people of this website). On the good side I know certin kanji not by reading but by context, for example I see a japanese sentence with Kanji I don't know I am able to know what the sentence is about but can't read the actual Kanji.

To Cherry:

If you read the forum carefully (not the title) you would realize I knew how to use it, I just was finding a better understanding of it, kind of like "の" in Japanese.

For example:
"Rin no katana"

Most books say "no" means of, for "no" meaning of you would need to switch the words to convert them into English.

"Katana of Rin"

But if "no" means "'s", the order of the words can stay the same and be alot easier.

"Rin's Katana"

That was the same thing I was doing with "kara", switching "kara" from "because" to "therefore" so I can keep the order of the sentence, I was just confirming if it was ok in the forum.

all you need to know is "I" is translated to "watashi".
if you are 16 years old boy, you can use "boku", but you can't use it for a long time. it is childish.
if you use "ore", you will be expected that you are from country side, you are from a lower class, or something like that.
in business and formal situations, "watashi" is always better than others.

Although I agree that boku sounds childish, I want to point out that it's completely normal for adults to say it.

In my line of work, I meet people from all walks of life--from mechanics to lawyers/doctors. They all say boku/ore in casual conversation.

Just today, we met with a dentist and it was "boku this and boku that". He was about 50 years old.

Good, there is hope for me.

俺(ore)•••only male (masculine expression)
僕(boku)•••basically only male
私(watashi)•••male/female
私(watakushi)•••male/female (formal)
あたし(atashi)•••only female or gay
うち(uchi)•••basically female (especially person from the Kansai region)
拙者(sessya)•••侍samurai/忍者ninja/武士bushi