Addressing the person you're talking to with a の-modified noun


Suppose you're talking to somebody and want to ask them about something
related to them. My Genki textbook has some examples of how you can actually
do this and also address them at the same time by using a の-modified noun with
their name in the topic. Here are two examples from the textbook:

> リーさんの専攻は文学ですね。(Ms. Lee, your major is literature, right?)
>
> たけしさんのデートはどうでしたか。(How was your date, Takeshi?)

My problem is, I've never seen this outside of Genki. Also, since I'm not a
Japanese native speaker, this way of addressing somebody sounds bizarre to me.
And the English translation above is actually not literal, for a good reason.
("Speaking about Takeshi's date, how was it?" sounds bonkers when it's Takeshi
you're asking.)

So, my question is: _is this way of addressing the person you're talking to
common? Or is this one of those things that textbooks might teach you at the
early stages for the lack of a better option even though it's clunky and
unusual?_




Yes, this is the most natural way to say it.

> And the English translation above is actually not literal

It can never be. The problem with Japanese is that it doesn't have a word for
"your". (or my, or his, or her...) The possessive pronouns are constructed via
the main pronoun + の, and there's not a dedicated word for it. Imagine instead
of "my book" or "your car" we'd have to say "I's book" and "You's car" now,
but that's literally what Japanese does.

Having cleared that point above, now let's look at how to address the other
person.

> Ms. Lee, your major is literature, right?

Here's in order to say "your literature", you either have to use a word for
"you"(あなた、きみ, etc.), or just say the name of the other person(リーさん), then add
a の to make is possessive.

In Japanese, the most common way is to use the other party's name instead of
any pronouns when you are not too familiar with them, but also not wanting to
sound too cold. Using あなた all the way would sound TOO aloof and emotion-less,
and it's used mostly in business or customer-service settings, where it's all
about respect and you're not developing anything personal. Using 君, on the
other hand, is reserved for more close relationships or superior-to-
subordinate relationships.

So in short, use あなた when you don't know their name, then change to their name
once you learn it. For friends and families, 君 or お前 will do.

P.S.

Even when you don't know the other party's name, there are ways most of the
time where you can get by without using あなた, and it _**would**_ be more
natural to do so. Example:

> あなたの名前はなんですか？ ❌  
>  お名前はなんですか？ ⭕️

By using the Keigo お・ご prefix, you are insinuating you're talking about the
other party's stuff, coz no one would use Keigo on themselves*. お財布、お名前、お家
will NEVER be interpreted as the speaker's stuff.

*Except for 謙譲語 and 美化語




Yes, this is the most natural way to say it.

> And the English translation above is actually not literal

It can never be. The problem with Japanese is that it doesn't have a word for
"your". (or my, or his, or her...) The possessive pronouns are constructed via
the main pronoun + の, and there's not a dedicated word for it. Imagine instead
of "my book" or "your car" we'd have to say "I's book" and "You's car" now,
but that's literally what Japanese does.

Having cleared that point above, now let's look at how to address the other
person.

> Ms. Lee, your major is literature, right?

Here's in order to say "your literature", you either have to use a word for
"you"(あなた、きみ, etc.), or just say the name of the other person(リーさん), then add
a の to make is possessive.

In Japanese, the most common way is to use the other party's name instead of
any pronouns when you are not too familiar with them, but also not wanting to
sound too cold. Using あなた all the way would sound TOO aloof and emotion-less,
and it's used mostly in business or customer-service settings, where it's all
about respect and you're not developing anything personal. Using 君, on the
other hand, is reserved for more close relationships or superior-to-
subordinate relationships.

So in short, use あなた when you don't know their name, then change to their name
once you learn it. For friends and families, 君 or お前 will do.

P.S.

Even when you don't know the other party's name, there are ways most of the
time where you can get by without using あなた, and it _**would**_ be more
natural to do so. Example:

> あなたの名前はなんですか？ ❌  
>  お名前はなんですか？ ⭕️

By using the Keigo お・ご prefix, you are insinuating you're talking about the
other party's stuff, coz no one would use Keigo on themselves*. お財布、お名前、お家
will NEVER be interpreted as the speaker's stuff.

*Except for 謙譲語 and 美化語

