I forget where I read it, but I've read that 君 (きみ) is generally used in place of 貴方 (あなた) when… - Feed Post by JamesG
I forget where I read it, but I've read that 君 (きみ) is generally used in place of 貴方 (あなた) when referring to someone of lower status than oneself. Though I've only read this somewhere once, I have to ask to reaffirm what I (presumably) already know.
Also, I already know 後輩 (こうはい) and 先輩 (せんぱい) are used when referring to those of lower status and higher status respectively, but the above...example has me curious.
ありがとう！
Also, I already know 後輩 (こうはい) and 先輩 (せんぱい) are used when referring to those of lower status and higher status respectively, but the above...example has me curious.
ありがとう！
posted by JamesG
Comments 11
Forgot to add that I know both 君 and 貴方 mean "you." What has me curious is that (supposedly) one could use one or the other when referring to someone of lower or higher social status.
貴方 sounds more informal imo.- Also, 貴方 to be more accurate is used to for someone who is equal or lower status than yourself.
@strawhat, I'm surprised you feel it's that way round—that you feel あなた sounds more informal than きみ.
Interesting example related to your second post: Christian worship songs in Japanese often use あなた towards God... I do admit, however, that for all I know this might possibly be linked to a similarity between church→Christ and wife→husband usage of あなた. But still, on the basic level, this example seems to be in extreme conflict with that description on あなた? :P- Hey, I am only saying what I found out about あなた. And it sounds informal only to me, I could be wrong of course.
- @mog86uk I didn't think that Wikipedia link existed. I looked for it not too long ago, and nothing came up. Thanks for the link!
@strawhat64 After reading the link above, you were right about 貴方 being informal. Thanks for clarifying! 
What I've learned is that generally, it's best to use the person's name instead of saying "you"(e.g., あなた); however, that said, あなた is still considered formal vs. 君, which is used among friends or people you don't use formal speech with.
You probably wouldn't use "君"with your senpai, (you would use ”せんぱい” instead - e.g., せんぱいは。。。). You can use "あなた" with a こうはい and it could have a negative tone (e.g., when you're mad or condescending), in which case it's used in an informal scenario.
That's my understanding at least. :)
I like watching anime, so its not hard to imagine that if one just goes with "temee" 手前 or "kisama" 貴様, people should get impressed! lol
(but, seriously, don't) :)- The first one is read "temae".
