How do you "replace" second-person pronouns?


I know that second-person pronouns should generally be avoided from being
used, but how exactly do I replace it?

Do I just reply the pronoun with someone's name? Or is the pronoun just
completely taken out of the sentence, with no substitution, etc.?

For example: Could "Would you like some tea?" be changed to "Sarah, want some
tea?", or "Want some tea?" You would take out the 'you' and perhaps replace it
with someone's name.




From what i remember from class, you have the right idea. Japanese is context
heavy so if youre talking to one other person, no need for pronouns. If you
want to ask the other person something, or if youre talking amongst others,
you address the person with their name. eg "sarahさんはどう思う" means "sarah, what
do you think?" but lets consider in two different situations. If we were
talking, just us, the sentence places emphasis on you, ie "what do _you_
think?" but if we were talking in a group of friends (think like at the mall)
it would be a simple "what do you think, sarah?" This is what they call the
contrastive use of は.

Regarding あなた and other pronouns, it is better to avoid using them since the
pronouns also imply a lot. あなた is polite, but distal, so at the wrong times
using it could be rude. 君 (きみ) implies a closer relationship, like friends or
lovers, like a boyfriend talking to his girlfriend. あんた is informal and can be
rude, I can only see it being used for friends talking to friends. てめえ is very
rude and if you hear someone calling you てめえ it is grounds for getting very
mad. I would rank it as a swear word.

I hope this is helpful since it is off the top of my head at 2am lol.

