Page 479 - Basic Japanese

= exalted)

ano hito-tachi they (neutral)

ano katagata they (honorific =
exalted)

The suffix -tachi is used frequently with nouns indicating

people: gakusei-tachi ‘students,’ Tanaka-tachi ‘Tanaka and his
group,’ and kodomo-tachi ‘children.’ Unless used impersonally,

such expressions seem rather impolite. They can be made
more polite by adding -san before -tachi, as in gakusei-san-tachi,

Tanaka-san-tachi, kodomo-san-tachi. If special deference is shown

to the people discussed, the exalted suffix -gata is used:
sensei-gata ‘teachers.’ Both hitotachi and hitobito are used to

mean ‘people.’ Reduplications of the hitobito type often
include a connotation of variety or respective distribution

‘various people.’ Other examples are kuniguni ‘various
countries,’ shimajima ‘(various or numerous) islands, island

after island,’ and sorezore ‘severally, variously, respectively.’

The words kore, sore, and are refer to both singular and
plural, ‘this’ or ‘these,’ ‘that’ or ‘those.’ They can be made

specifically plural by adding the suffix -ra: korera ‘these,’

sorera ‘these,’ and arera ‘those over there.’ But in a simple
equational sentence like ‘These are roses, and those are

camellias’ you just use the plain forms Kore wa bara de, sore wa
tsubaki desu.

Another polite way to say ‘you (all)’ is mina-san or mina-san-

gata. The word mina-san is often heard at the beginning of a
public talk, equivalent to English ‘Ladies and Gentlemen.’

Sometimes it means just ‘everybody (at your house)’ as in
Mina-san ni yoroshiku ‘Please give my regards to everyone.’