And what language and region is it?
I’ve noticed my language teacher uses the informal you in one language and the formal one in the other.
And what language and region is it?
I’ve noticed my language teacher uses the informal you in one language and the formal one in the other.
Can you give examples, please?
Examples of what? Dropping the “you” in the sentence all together, or the casual ways to say “you”?
Regarding dropping it, it’s very common to drop the “I” or the “you” in regular speaking, as it’s assumed. Verb conjugation has a lot more power in Japanese, and you designate questions separately, which clears up most of the confusion. In English, “Go to the store” can either be a command or a statement (if you add “I will” at the front). In Japanese, this is explained in the conjugation of the verb. The subject thus becomes superfluous, and is dropped in everyday speech.
There’s a ton of different ways to say both “I” and “you” in Japanese, and can depend on gender, closeness, and situation. The four most common forms of “you” are to say the person’s name + さん (san), あなた (anata) which is rather generic but is odd to use too much especially if you know the person’s name, 君 (kimi) for people who know each other well (slightly masculine), and お前 (omae) which is so informal it can be crass, like calling a stranger “bro” in English.
Thank you for the explanation!
Come to think of it, we can also drop the “you” (or other pronouns) in Spanish (my mother tongue) and go by conjugation alone if needed. I didn’t even think about it, and I’ve taught the damn language in a previous life! Talk about not seeing the forrest for the trees. So I could say “Yo voy al baño” (I’m going to the bathroom), or simply “Voy al baño” which is perfectly understandable and unambiguous.
Interesting the different ways to say “you” in Japanese. You mentioned that the last form (お前) could be crass because it’s too informal, but I’m assuming that if both people are very close, then it sounds fine, right? Like you said, I wouldn’t call anyone “bro”, but my friends would just find it fine, and even expected, correct?