What rules should be followed when saying "we"?


I know that, in Japanese, you can say `X達【たち】` or `Xら` (where X is a first
person pronoun) to say `we`.

However, what rules should be followed for choosing that "X". Can I use
whatever I would use to refer to myself and then add 達 / ら, or should I use a
pronoun that would be acceptable for both myself and the other people
included.

Here's a specific example: Could a female say `あたし達` to refer to herself and
some males, or would `あたし達` imply that everyone in the group is female (as it
would in Spanish and probably similar languages)?




In informal settings, you might use あたし達, to your parents-in-law you might use
私達, and in business settings, you might use 我々 or 私共. It can depend on many
things, including possibly your gender, but _it doesn't generally depend on
whether there is somebody of the other gender in the group you refer to_.

The Japanese plural marker 達 as well as ら and others AFAIK, can work as
[associative plurals](http://wals.info/chapter/36). This means that you can
use 田中君達 to mean "Tanaka and others associated with him (whose names are not
necessarily Tanaka)". Compare this to English "the Joneses" in which you would
usually expect all of the people referred to to have the name "Jones".

Thus, あたし達 can be thought of as "I and others associated with me".
Semantically, this isn't really different from "we", but it might give an
explanation of why you don't need to change あたし to something else, just
because there is a male in the group.

All this being said, I venture the statement that 達 and other Japanese plural
markers can also be used an additive (normal) plural. For example, unless the
speaker has a specific 部長 in mind, you would usually understand うちの会社の部長達 as
the group of 部長s (and only 部長s) from the speaker's company.




In informal settings, you might use あたし達, to your parents-in-law you might use
私達, and in business settings, you might use 我々 or 私共. It can depend on many
things, including possibly your gender, but _it doesn't generally depend on
whether there is somebody of the other gender in the group you refer to_.

The Japanese plural marker 達 as well as ら and others AFAIK, can work as
[associative plurals](http://wals.info/chapter/36). This means that you can
use 田中君達 to mean "Tanaka and others associated with him (whose names are not
necessarily Tanaka)". Compare this to English "the Joneses" in which you would
usually expect all of the people referred to to have the name "Jones".

Thus, あたし達 can be thought of as "I and others associated with me".
Semantically, this isn't really different from "we", but it might give an
explanation of why you don't need to change あたし to something else, just
because there is a male in the group.

All this being said, I venture the statement that 達 and other Japanese plural
markers can also be used an additive (normal) plural. For example, unless the
speaker has a specific 部長 in mind, you would usually understand うちの会社の部長達 as
the group of 部長s (and only 部長s) from the speaker's company.

