what’s the difference between 人 and 者?
they both mean ‘person’ or ‘people’, right?
yes. they’re also both suffixes, and are appropriate in formal and casual settings. but there are subtle differences in their usage.
はじめに、その授業の語彙リスト：
first, some vocabulary:
人前 〖 ひとまえ・h'tomàe 〗 in front of people, publicly.
一人の〜 〖 ひとりの〜・h'tori no ~ 〗 one person, as a counter.
(二人、三人、四人、など1 follow an older japanese numbering system and often bear unexpected pronunciations.)
技術 〖 ぎじゅつ・gijúts’ 〗 skill, technique, engineering.
なくなる 〖 無くなる 〗 to go missing, disappear, run out, be used up.
嘘つき 〖 ぎじゅつ・usòts'ki 〗 liar, speaker of untruths.
利用 〖 りよう（する）〗 use, application; to use, profit from, take advantage of.
恨みを買う 〖 うらみをかう 〗 to incur wrath, envy, or resentment. literally means ‘to buy a grudge’. i heart this expression so much.
露知らず 〖 つゆしらず 〗 to be utterly ignorant, (blissfully) unaware.
人 can be used just like any other 普通名詞2。
あれから人前で見せる事が少なかったんだ。唯一の技術に自信がなくなって…
since then3, i rarely show them4in public. my confidence in the only skill i’ve got has run dry…
あの人は嘘つきだ。あの人は僕を利用しようとしてるだけだよ…
that person is a liar. that person has only ever tried to use me to his advantage.
ここに１人の超能力者がいる。
there is one person with supernatural abilities here.
者, on the other hand, pretty much always needs a qualifier.
it’s usually a suffix, related to professions or used to describe qualities of people. you won’t find it in an adverbial sense either.
some words with しゃ・もの baked in:
偽者 〖 にせもの 〗 imposter, pretender.
信者 〖 しんじゃ 〗 believer(s), faithful.
死者 〖 ししゃ 〗 dead person/people; casualties.
若者 〖 わかもの 〗 young person/people; the youth.
学者 〖 がくしゃ・gak'sha 〗 scholar.
超能力者 〖 ちょうのうりょくしゃ・chounouryok'sha 〗 person with ESP.
here’s an example with a whole sentence modifying it. 者 functions here much like 事 and 物, with the added feature that it lends completion to sentences in formal writing on its own:
これは恨みを買って来たくらいなどを露知らず者。
this is a person who has not the faintest sense of just how much resentment he has managed to bring down upon his head.
usually read ふたり、みたり、よにん… など means et cetera, and so on, and the like… ↩︎
ふつうめいし。the rough equivalent of nouns in japanese. ↩︎
the speaker first noting that his crush seems more interested in athletic boys. he is anything but. ↩︎
his psychic abilities. ↩︎
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origamiaround
