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Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 16:39
In the English language, there are gender pronouns: He, She, Him, His, Her, and Hers.
Now what about in the Japanese language? My friends and I are debating whether Kun and Chan would be considered gender pronouns. Are they?
Kun=male Chan=female
by georgem  

Re: Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 17:05
he - kare
him - kare wo
his - kare no
she - kanojo
her - kanojo wo
hers- kanojo no

and yes, "kun" is for male(boy) and "chan" is for female(girl) usually. Use them with the name like "››kun" or "››chan" and it's more use for children. For adults we have another one which is "san" and we can useot for both male and female.
by haru505 rate this post as useful

Re: Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 18:14
"Kun" and "chan" are not pronouns, as they cannot be used alone to mean "he" or "she". They are what are known as honorifics.
You can read more about honorifics here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics
by Sumomo (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 18:18
But this doesn't make sense http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pronouns . It says that Kare is used for calling a male, but it also says Gender neutral. Then later in the list, it says that kare-ra means they. This is so confusing.
by georgem rate this post as useful

Re: Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 19:39
And I had heard "you guys" in English.
I know "guys" is used for men, so confusing.

By the way, you can use "kanojo-ra" for females.
Anyway, in Japanese history, originally "kare"(”ή) means "third person" or "that person" only.
In the modern time, making differences between "kare" for male and "kanojo" for female was caused by European language.
by ajapaneseboy rate this post as useful

Re: Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 20:04
They can be refereed to both male & female groups = Kere-ra or Kanojo-tachi.
(eg, They went to dinner with firends, "Karera-wa tomodachi to issho ni yushoku ni itta", or, "Kanojo-tachi wa tomodachi to issho ni yushoku ni itta").

"Kun" is mainly used for boys, but the person in higher position often use "Kun" to lower person in position both men & women(eg, tutors/teacher to pupils/students).
It normally "Kun" can be used for young boys whom they are not mature. You can be use "Kun" to a mature person if you are a higher in position or older, but it's typically used "San"(eg, Saito-san), if you are both mature.

"Chan" can be used for young persons(both boys & girls) or between very close friends. It's better not to use "Chan" if you are both not in closer relationship.
by tokyo friend 48 rate this post as useful

Re: Japanese Gender Pronouns? 2014/8/15 22:38
Also there's not really a one-to-one correspondence between usage of Japanese pronouns and English pronouns. Japanese pronouns tend to be more nuanced, but also used less often.

For example, it wouldn't be common to ever use "kanojo" (she) if you were talking about your mother - you'd use the word for "my mother" instead.
by Umami Dearest rate this post as useful

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