語彙 「ごい」 Vocabulary！～
人称代名詞 「にんしょうだいめいし」 Personal Pronouns in Japanese
In order to complement the first grammar lesson, and the rest to come, I want to introduce you to the personal pronouns that exist in Japanese. Their correct use is actually really important when having conversations, so it's better to learn their different nuances early in order to communicate properly!^^
First we have the "I", probably the most confusing one. These are some of the different and most common ways you can refer to yourself in Japanese:
私（わたし）: it's the standard form for "I" and usually the one they teach you as it's also the most neutral one and the safest option in every conversation.
わたくし : it's the formal version of 私 and it's used in highly formal contexts such as politics or business. Beware of using it though, since you can seem arrogant or condescending in some cases.
僕（ぼく）: more informal than 私 and it's use is reserved to men, mostly when they're young, or even women in some cases, but it's seen as a maculine word.
俺（おれ）: same as 僕 , it's used also in informal settings but by "older" men.
あたし : informal "cute" form of 私 , usually used by girls/women
内（うち）: it literally means "inside" in Japanese and it's an informal word for 私 that doesn't have any gender nuances.
こちら : it literally means "this way" and it's used in formal settings. It's kind of ambiguous as it can also be used to refer to "we" in some cases.
こっち : the informal form of こちら
我（われ）: it's more common to use it for "we" (我々／我ら), instead of "I", and it's use can be complicated as it doesn't only mean "I" but also "one's self" (not necessarily refering to the speaker).
わし : corresponds to the shortened & informal form of 私 and it's usually used only by old men or really informal men.
Your own name: you can use your own name, in the third person, as a way to seem cute and/or childish even. I wouldn't recommend using this, but keep the meaning/nuance in mind in case someone talks to you like this.
Now that we know how to refer to ourselves, we can focus on the second person, "You", that can be as confusing and complicated as "I":
貴方（あなた）: it's the one they teach you normally and the basic word for "you" in Japanese; however it's use is normally reserved to strangers that don't know each other's names yet. It can also be used by wives to address their husbands
あんた : it's the shortened & informal form of 貴方
君（きみ）: it's meant to be used in order to address people "below you" in status (such as adults talking to children or teachers to students), so be careful if you don't want to seem condescending or rude to the other person. It's also used by couples to address each other.
お前（おまえ）: only used between friends as it's use is seen as rude outside close-circles. It's considered a masculine word and also used by husbands to address their wives.
手前（てめえ）: very rude way of addressing someone + it's commonly only used in anime/manga, not in real life
己（おのれ）: just like 手前 , it's normally only used in media such as anime/manga to curse at others.
貴様（きさま）: it used to be a respectful form (hence the use of 様/さま), but now it's considered to be very rude and disrespectful.
諸君（しょくん）: formal/polite way of addressing a group of people. It can be translated to "ladies and gentlemen".
The person's name/surname: it's the most appropiate way to refer to another person, even more so than 貴方 , and the one I recommend the most. It's used in both formal or informal contexts by changing the honorifics that go after the name (ーさん／くん／ちゃん／様．．．）
Then, we have to add the third person, "he/she" to this list:
彼（かれ）: Japanese equivalent of "he". Can also mean "boyfriend" depending on the context.
彼女（かのじょ）: Japanese equivalent of "she". Can also mean "girlfriend" depending on the context.
こいつ／そいつ／あいつ : informal and very casual words used to refer to someone else and that translate to "this person/that person/the person over there", respectively.
Now, passing onto the plural pronouns, we have to note that there're various ways to make this form, usually by using suffixes:
ーたち : can translate to "and company" and it's added to other pronouns to make them plural (私→私たち／貴方→あなたたち／．．．). However it can also be used with other nouns that refer to living things (猫／ねこ "cat" →猫たち／ねこたち "cats")
皆（みんな) (ーさん）: standard/neutral way to refer to a group of people in Japanese.
ーら : usually used only with the third person pronouns, such as 彼→彼ら／彼女→彼女ら
ーども : commonly used with the other third person pronouns (こいつども／そいつども／あいつども）
人々（ひとびと）: this one is a noun, not a pronoun, but I wanted to add it as it literally means "people/the people" and can also be used to refer to humanity in general.
