Japanese learners often say “anata wa” in conversation, meaning ‘and you?’ This expression is still understandable, but can sound weird to Japanese native speakers. In this blog post, I will explain “anata wa” meaning from its components and also why it can sound weird to the Japanese.

Contents

• Before checking anata wa meaning
• Anata wa meaning from its components
  • Example of anata wa
• Wa as a sentence ending particle
  • Conversation using anata wa
• How to say “and you” in Japanese
  • Conversation without anata wa
• Summary

Before checking anata wa meaning

I need to explain how often Japanese people omit subject words in sentences. We can also omit them in English, but from the grammatical point of view, basically they are necessary. English subject words still have a strong presence. Contrary to this, Japanese ones are very weak. To be honest, they are very neglectable even in formal situations. When Japanese people use subject words intentionally, they could sound very strong. What I want to say here is Japanese people usually do not use a pronoun, “anata”, which is a possible subject word in conversation, meaning ‘you’. Using pronouns itself could be weird to Japanese people.

In addition to the above, “anata” is widely used in a different way in Japan. It is used by a wife to call her husband. To tell the truth, Japanese people are not much familiar with its use as a pronoun.

I’ve explained some backgrounds required to understand why the phrase, “anata wa”, can be weird. In the next paragraphs, I will explain “anata wa” meaning from its components.

Anata wa meaning from its components

Obviously, the phrase, “anata wa”, consists of two different parts. Below are the ones.

• anata – あなた : a pronoun meaning ‘you’. It can be written in kanji like “貴方”, but its hiragana expression is widely used.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. This hiragana character itself corresponds to a sound, “ha”. But, as a particle, it is pronounced “wa” instead. This is a kind of general rule in Japanese.

From meaning of these components, “anata wa” means ‘you are’ in Japanese. Please take a look at an example below.

Example of anata wa

New words are below.

• gakusei – 学生 (がくせい) : a noun meaning ‘a student’ or ‘students’. Learn more about the border between Japanese singular and plural.
• desu – です : a plain form of this auxiliary verb itself. It’s put after a noun or adjective to make its polite expression. Perhaps, this auxiliary verb is well known for a part of desu form.
• ka – か : a sentence ending particle used to make simple questions in Japanese.

Due to help of the sentence ending particle, “ka”, the Japanese sentence has become an interrogative expression. So, positions of components of “you are” in the English sentence are switched to each other. Now, word orders look different, but “anata wa” corresponds very well to the English phrase, “you are”.

This is a typical use of the phrase, “anata wa”. The example shows the relation between “anata wa” and “you are”. In the first paragraph of this blog post, however, I told that Japanese learners often say “anata wa” to mean “and you?” in Japanese. Why its translation is different in the example above? In order to answer this question, let me explain the particle, “wa”, more.

Wa as a sentence ending particle

As I explained, “wa” is a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. In reality, however, Japanese people often use it like a sentence ending particle. From the grammatical point of view, it is not. But Japanese people put it at the end of sentence quite often. A reason why this happens is that they often omit all words after “wa” in interrogative sentences. So, in a way, we can consider “anata wa” as an abbreviated form of questions. As a result of this kind of omission, “wa” appears to be like a sentence ending particle. This is how the phrase,”anata wa”, is made and also why it can be translated to “and you?”

As you may have realized, the phrase “anata wa” highly depends on context and other words not used together, in other words, omitted words. We have to guess what is omitted and also speaker’s intention behind. Sometimes, therefore, “anata wa” can be confusing to Japanese native speakers.

For a better understanding, please take a look at an example below. It is a conversation between two Japanese, Haru and Aki.

Conversation using anata wa

Below are new words.

• genki – 元気 (げんき) : a noun meaning ‘vitality’, ‘health’, ‘energy’ and so forth. It can also be used like an adjective meaning ‘healthy’ or ‘fine’. Learn more about adjective like use of nouns.
• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’.
• mo – も : a binding particle used to add a nuance of ‘also’, ‘too’, ‘as well’ or such. It can also be used for emphasis.

The first question is very clear, I think. In daily conversation, “genki desu ka” is often used as one phrase to mean ‘how are you?’ In casual situations, even just saying “genki?” with the raised pitch is very acceptable.

The second line is also very clear. Just an answer to the question.

For the third one, “wa” is used like a sentence ending particle. This means, other words after it have been omitted. A full sentence could be “anata wa genki desu ka?” meaning ‘how are you?’ Here, the context is very understandable, so it is easy to guess what is omitted. Depending on situations, however, it could be very difficult. When saying “anata wa”, we have to understand context. Otherwise, it can sound weird. This would be another reason why the phrase,”anata wa”, can sound so.

The fourth one is also just an answer. The phrase, “watashi mo” corresponds well to English expressions like “me too” or “blah blah too”. Its meaning is always very clear and depends less on context. So, normally we can use it easily. However, surprisingly, we can find another omission here. Most probably, words like “genki desu” have been omitted after the binding particle, “mo”. Therefore, a full sentence could be “watashi mo genki desu” exactly meaning “I’m fine too”. But, again, it depends less on context and has a clear meaning, so the shortened expression is quite understandable.

How to say “and you” in Japanese

So far, I’ve explained how “anata wa” can be weird, meaning ‘and you’ in Japanese. Hope you could understand my explanations. Then, your next question would be “how can people say ‘and you’ naturally in Japanese?” My answer to this question is “they can’t”. Sometimes, simple phrases or expressions cannot be translated to other languages with keeping their original meanings and nuances. So, we need to understand there is no expression in Japanese which completely corresponds to “and you?” When you want to ask someone the same thing you are asked, you could just repeat it. Below is a conversation between Haru and Aki again.

Conversation without anata wa

This is how Japanese people ask others the same thing they are asked. Just repeating it. These expressions would be more natural than the ones in the last example conversation. Plus they are more understandable.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained “anata wa” meaning from its components and why it can sound weird to Japanese people. Let me summarize them as follows.

• anata wa – あなたは : a phrase meaning ‘you are’. It can be used like “and you?” with the pitch raised, but this use can sound weird.
• anata – あなた : a pronoun meaning ‘you’. Japanese people do not use it that much because it is used by a wife to call her husband. This is one reason why “anata wa” can sound weird to the Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case maker or topic maker. It can also be used like a sentence ending particle to make shortened questions like “and you?” Yet, guessing what is omitted after this particle can be difficult.

When you want to ask someone the same thing you are asked in Japanese, you could just repeat it. In Japanese, repeating the same phrase would be more natural and understandable than using “anata wa?”

Hope my explanations help Japanese learners to improve their skills.

Masaki Mori

Japanese Particles Master

Masaki Mori is a Japanese particles master. Through teaching Japanese language, he is trying to spread the culture of Japan. His goal is to preserve it as much as possible.

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