な at end of sentence... what does it mean?

[dudnaito]

also, i started to watch some anime to help my japanese and i noticed a whole lot more "you"'s than the simple あなた。。。like きみ、きさま, and other stuff..... can anyone give me the whole run through of I's and you's...

i know for I's there's 私、おれ、ぼく、

[QuackingShoe]

Na is similar to ne, but more reflective, like you're half talking to yourself.
Not to be confused with the imperative na, or the negative imperative na. That is (from する), しな and するな, respectively.

Pronouns: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_p ... e_pronouns

[taikutsu]

Regarding words for "you", Japanese is somewhat different than English in how you talk about the person you're talking to. The differences between these words is primarily in nuances, and how you view yourself in relation to the other person. I don't think I could describe them perfectly, nor do I believe it's possible to learn their use from a description, but here's a rough idea:

あなた is most often used to speak to strangers
きみ and おまえ don't convey a lot of respect, and can be used to speak with friends, but can also sound like talking down to someone - you'll hear these in casual speech, especially by men who have coolness levels exceeding 9000.
きさま and てめえ are hostile ways to refer to people that I've often heard in movies and such. Yell these out the window of your car towards that bad driver at your own peril.

It's actually rather normal to refer to people directly by name+honorific when speaking with them, which you'll probably start to notice if you listen a lot. Or just leave out a word meaning "you" altogether, as Japanese doesn't really require pronouns.

[Javizy]

Just a note about personal pronouns - don't be afraid of おれ. It took me about 3-4 months to get comfortable using it with my girlfriend, because I originally learnt it as a 'macho' word, which seemed to be confirmed in the manga I was reading at the time. It is, however, perfectly acceptable to use it with friends if you're not an old man. In fact, it actually sounds strange using ぼく in such cases, and pretty much a joke using わたし.

If you're a guy, you can get away with almost never using わたし. The context is very important though. Try paying attention to the way guys refer to themselves when you're listening to Japanese, and hopefully you won't have the problems I had!

Oh, and girls moan when you call them おまえ

[ggenglish]

@Javizy, interesing, my japanese friend told me never to use or おれ because it's too "japanese" as they put it. As in only native speaking Japanese males should use it. Maybe that was their round about way of saying I'm an old man.

[Jessi]

きみ and おまえ don't convey a lot of respect, and can be used to speak with friends, but can also sound like talking down to someone - you'll hear these in casual speech, especially by men who have coolness levels exceeding 9000.

分かりやすい！

[taikutsu]

@Javizy, interesing, my japanese friend told me never to use or おれ because it's too "japanese" as they put it. As in only native speaking Japanese males should use it. Maybe that was their round about way of saying I'm an old man.

Sometimes it's easier to tell someone not to say something than to explain how to say it, especially when social customs are involved. I suppose it's a matter of getting a good "feel" for what sounds right and when.