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The form of the pronoun does not change, but there is a<br />
change in the postpositional particle that is placed after the<br />
pronoun; for direct object pronouns, use o instead of wa:<br />
watashi o me<br />
bok o me (m, fam)<br />
watakshi o me (pol)<br />
anata o you (sing)<br />
kimi o you (sing, fam, to a subordinate)<br />
kare o him<br />
kanojo o her<br />
watashitachi o us<br />
anatatachi o you (pl)<br />
kimitachi o you (pl, fam, to subordinates)<br />
karera o them (m)<br />
kanojotachi o them (f)<br />
sorera o them (inanimate objects)<br />
kare o yonde kimasho<br />
[‘he’ + ob. part. + ‘fetch’]<br />
I’ll get him<br />
‘It’<br />
Japanese has no word that is equivalent to the English pronoun<br />
‘it’;‘it’ will be understood in phrases like the following:<br />
doko desu ka? toi desu ka?<br />
[‘where is’ + question part.] [‘far is’ + question part.]<br />
where is it? is it far?<br />
ame ga fut·te imasu<br />
[‘rain’ + sub. part. + ‘fall is’]<br />
it’s raining<br />
If you really need to emphasise ‘it’, you can use sore, but this<br />
is a demonstrative pronoun rather than a personal pronoun,<br />
and actually means ‘that’:<br />
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS<br />
■ Pronouns<br />
267