Male and Female Speech
In Japanese, there are subtle differences between female and male speech patterns. These differences are not so great that if you use the "female form" as a male, or the "male form" as a female you will be misunderstood, but it's important to bare in mind that many native speakers will pick up on these differences.
Many of these distinctions are gradually disappearing, so if it bothers you that there are distinctions between male and female patterns, don't put too much store by it.
Plain vs. Polite
The main differences in male and female speech arise in the plain form, especially in the use of sentence-final particles such as ね, よ and わ and question markers such as の.
There are relatively few differences in male and female speech when speaking in the polite form as it too, is more gender neutral.
Sentence Enders
The following table illustrates the difference in common sentence enders between male and female speech. You will notice that many of the male speech patterns will double up in the female speech patterns. This is because male speech is considered more gender neutral, and female speech developed later in order to soften the language and make it seem more 'femanine'.
| Male | Female |
|---|---|
| 先生だ | 先生 |
| 先生だ | 先生だわ |
| 先生だよ | 先生だよ/先生だわよ |
| 暑い | 暑いわ |
| 暑いよ | 暑いわよ |
| 暑いんだ | 暑いの |
| 飲む | 飲むわ |
| 飲むよ | 飲むわよ |
| 飲むね | 飲むわね |
| 飲むんだ | 飲むの |
Questions
The other main difference in plain speech is with question markers. Early on when learning Japanese, か is taught as the particle to turn statements into questions. As you progress in your mission to learn Japanese, you'll discover more question makers and many of these have male and female forms.
Again, many of the male forms double up in the female forms. See the table below for examples:
| Male | Female |
|---|---|
| 先生？ | 先生？ |
| 先生かい？ | 先生？ |
| 先生なのかい？ | 先生なの？ |
| 暑い？ | 暑い？ |
| 暑いかい？ | 暑い？ |
| 暑いのかい？ | 暑いの？ |
| 飲む？ | 飲むわ？ |
| 飲むかい？ | 飲むの？ |
| 飲まないか？ | 飲まない？ |
| 何？ | 何？ |
| 何だい？ | 何なの？ |
| どんな人なんだい？ | どんな人なの？ |
| いつ飲むんだい？ | いつ飲むの？ |
Example Sentences
The following example sentences show male speech patterns on the left, and female speech patterns on the right. Compare them with the tables above to see the difference.
-
どうしたんだろう。]() / [どうしたのかしら。
I wonder what's wrong. -
さあ行こう。]() / [さあ行くわよ。
Let's go. -
顔色が悪いぞ。]() / [顔色が悪いわ。
You look pale. -
大丈夫かい？]() / [大丈夫なの？
Are you alright? -
迎えに来て欲しいのか？]() / [迎えに来て欲しいの？
Do you want me to pick you up? -
どうしてなんだ！]() / [どうしてなのよ！
Why the hell!