Page 542 - Basic Japanese

honorific style more than men, and attach the honorific prefix o-
to nouns more than men do.
Women seem to leave more of their sentences dangling with
non-finite verbal expressions than men do, although sentence

fragments are widespread in the plain style for both sexes.
Japanese often turn a finite verb expression into a noun
expression with the noun no or koto ‘fact,’ which is frequently

followed by the particle yo, or just ends the sentence itself: Iku
no yo ‘I’m going,’ Kore na no yo ‘It’s this one,’ Tadaima kita no? ‘Did

you just get here?’
Women often use atashi for watashi or watakushi ‘I’ in plain or

sometimes in polite speech, and men often substitute boku for
it. The explicit plural of boku is bokura. Men also use kimi (explicit

plural kimitachi or kimira) for anata ‘you.’ There are other impolite
pronouns such as ore, which are considered vulgar; and the

condescending word omae ‘you’ is rather insulting.

ii. Use of particles

The particles wa, ga, and o are freely dropped. The question

particle ka is often dropped. The meaning is carried by the
context:

Tabako aru (ka)? = Tabako ga aru ka?
Do you have any cigarettes?

Doko iku? = Doko e iku ka?
Where are you going?

In the speech of men, the question particle ka is often
replaced by ka ne (contraction kai) or da ne (contraction dai). If

the sentence contains an interrogative word, da ne (dai) is more
likely to occur.