～ら・～たち: Pluralizing Suffixes

Introduction

So we've covered "I" and "you", but what about "we" and "you people"? Does Japanese not have words for those? Of course it does, you silly goose! Read on to find out what they are and how to use them.

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Structure

• 

  Nounら・たち
  Example:
  → 私わたしたちはキノコが嫌きらいだ。
  "We don't like mushrooms.”

Check out this sentence:

「ドーナツを食たべた。」

Now, does the noun 「ドーナツ」refer to one donut, or many? Well, it could be either!

Yeah, that's right. Nouns contain an innate plurality in Japanese. Without additional context, there's no way to tell whether the sentence 「ドーナツを食たべた」 means that someone ate one donut, or many. Is the world as you know it imploding? Excellent! That means you're making progress.