Happy Sunday Japanophiles, Herewith the 11th issue of the Hai Japan Newsletter — your Weekly Dose of Japan!

Today, we’re simply going through a Japanese pronoun:

自分 is a Japanese pronoun that means "self."

自分 (じぶん) is the Japanese word for "self." It carries an introspective nuance but can be used as a pronoun for oneself or others, depending on the context. (From Tofugo.com)

When used to refer to someone else, it can convey a story from their perspective as if the speaker is a surrogate.

While 自分 is often compared to English reflexive pronouns like "myself," "yourself," "himself," and "herself," it is used differently and doesn't always align in meaning.

For instance, 自分 is universally used regardless of gender or perspective, unlike the English reflexive pronouns that have more distinctions.

Additionally, it is only used for animate things, such as humans and animals.

Grammatically, 自分 is not significantly different from other Japanese pronouns or nouns. Unlike English reflexive pronouns, 自分 offers more flexibility in usage, reference, and translation.

To grasp the true essence of 自分, it's best to explore its usage in real examples. Keep reading to delve deeper into its nuances!

自分 AS A REFLEXIVE PRONOUN

Let's start with something similar to English and something you're more familiar with. As mentioned earlier, 自分 can be used like English reflexive pronouns — the words ending in "-self" such as "myself" or "herself." In English, reflexive pronouns are used as objects most of the time, echoing back the sentence's subject. 自分 can be used in the same way.

• キョーコは自分を信じている。

• Kyōko wa jibun o shinjite iru.

• Kyoko believes in herself.

In the English translation, you see that Kyoko is the subject of the sentence, and "herself" refers to Kyoko. As you see here, in Japanese, 自分 is referring to キョーコ, where 自分 is used as the object, echoing the subject.

自分 is also frequently used as a pronoun to avoid repetition.

• キョーコは自分が正しいと思っている。

• Kyōko wa jibun ga tadashii to omotte iru.

• Kyoko thinks she's right.

Technically, you could be repetitive and say キョーコはキョーコが正しいと思っている (Kyōko wa Kyōko ga tadashii to omotte iru). 

Even though it feels redundant, it's grammatically okay to do so. You may even hear repetitive phrases like this in spoken Japanese, especially when emphasizing that Kyoko thinks Kyoko is the right one!

However, especially in writing, it's common to use 自分 instead to avoid redundancy.

You might also wonder, "why not use the third-person pronoun 彼女 (she) just like we do in English?"

In Japanese, using third-person pronouns is not as common as in English, especially since 彼女 typically means "girlfriend" rather than "she," so 自分 would be the most suitable choice here.

自分で FOR THINGS YOU DO YOURSELF

Another common way that 自分 is used is when specifying that something is done by a person themself, not someone else. In English, reflexive pronouns have the same effect and are called "intensive pronouns." Now let's take a look at an example.

• キョーコは家を建てた。

• Kyōko wa ie o tateta.

• Kyoko built a house.

With this sentence alone, it's not clear whether Kyoko hired professionals to build the house (which is what most people would do), or if she actually built the house on her own.

But if Kyoko is a super hardcore DIYer and built her own home, it's noteworthy! And, 自分 is the perfect word to use when you want to explain that.

• キョーコは家を自分で建てた。

• Kyōko wa ie o jibun de tateta.

• Kyoko built the house herself.

By using 自分 with the particle で, you can add emphasis on how the action is done by the person.

One thing to note here is 自分で doesn't specify whether the action is done only by yourself without anyone else's help or not.

To make it clear that something was done by yourself only, you'd want to use 一人で (alone).

• キョーコは家を一人で建てた。

• Kyōko wa ie o hitori de tateta.

• Kyoko built a house all by herself.

自分の FOR THINGS OF ONE'S OWN

With the particle の, 自分 is often used for something that's your own, not someone else's.

In the previous section, we talked about how to say "Kyoko built a house herself." But what if you want to specifically say that the house she built is for herself, not say, a house for her pet hamster?

Building a hamster house is still very impressive, but not as cool as her building her own home!

We can use 自分 (again) to make sure that we explain that Kyoko impressively built a human-sized house for herself.

• キョーコは自分の家を自分で建てた。

• Kyōko wa jibun no ie o jibun de tateta.

• Kyoko built her own house by herself.

Attaching の to turn 自分 into the possessive form like this, you specify that the house is Kyoko's house.

自分 FOR "YOURSELF" IN GENERAL

自分 can also be used as "oneself" for an unspecified person or for unspecified people. This is often seen in general sayings and expressions when you are not talking about a particular person but are referring to people in general and themselves.

• 自分を信じて。

• Jibun o shinjite.

• Believe in yourself.

• 自分のやったことは自分に返ってくる。

• Jibun no yatta koto wa jibun ni kaette kuru.

• What you've done comes back to you.

BEYOND THE BASICS

自分 WITHOUT SUBJECT

You might've noticed from previous examples that 自分 works even if there's nothing to echo back to in the sentence. This is because sentence components, especially the subject, often get omitted in Japanese depending on the context, so it's not rare to see 自分 and without specifying who it's referring to. 👻

For example, when someone says something like:

• 自分に自信がないんです。

• Jibun ni jishin ga nain desu.

• I lack confidence in myself.

You can usually assume that the subject is the person who said it even if they did not explicitly say 私は ("I" or "as for me").

For example, let's say you are talking about your friend Kyoko, who seems to be too busy to help others. You may say something like:

• 自分のことで精一杯そうだよね。

• Jibun no koto de seiippai sō da yo ne.

• She seems occupied with her own business.

You know that it's a "she," aka Kyoko, that 自分 refers to because she is the topic of your conversation.

And I mean, of course, you know she is busy working on her hardcore DIY projects, what did you expect?

WHAT 自分 CAN REFER TO

Although 自分 usually refers to the subject or the topic of a sentence, sometimes what it refers to is unclear in complex sentences with multiple perspectives. Or, sometimes, it just depends on the context.

Although reflexive pronouns only refer back to a word within the same clause in English, 自分 can refer to a subject in a different clause.

• マミは、カナエが自分を責めてるって言ってた。

• Mami wa, Kanae ga jibun o semeteru tte itteta.

• Mami was saying that Kanae blames 自分.

In English, who Kanae is blaming or who 自分 refers to, could only be Kanae. However, in Japanese, it's unclear who 自分 is — it could refer to Kanae, or even Mami, despite the mention of Mami being far away in a separate clause.

Now, let's say your friend asks you why Mami is crying. The exchange could look something like:

• Your friend: マミは何で泣いてるの？
  You: カナエが自分を責めてるって言ってた。

• Your friend: Why is Mami crying?
  You: She said that Kanae blames 自分.

And even in this case, 自分 can still refer to either Mami or Kanae.

Mami is even in a separate sentence, but in this context where Mami is who you and your friend are talking about, it's very possible it could be about her.

自分 AS A PERSONAL PRONOUN

自分 is also used in the first-person or second-person perspectives just like a personal pronoun.

Here's an example of 自分 when it's used in the first-person.

• 自分も、そう思います。

• Jibun mo, sō omoimasu.

• I think so too.

Compared to other first-person pronouns, the nuance of 自分 is introspective, and it's often associated with the military or athletic community, which have strong hierarchies.

It is also considered to be relatively gender-neutral. For more details, check out first-person pronoun article.

In addition to using 自分 in first-person contexts, in the Kansai area dialect, 自分 also gets used in second-person (referring to your listener) contexts.

• 自分、何してんの？

• Jibun, nani shiten no?

• What are you doing?

This use carries a "caring" nuance, as if you're approaching someone while trying to step into their shoes.

MODIFYING 自分

Grammatically-speaking, 自分 is not any different from nouns. That means you can modify 自分 with an adjective or a clause.

Here are a couple examples of 自分 being modified with adjectives — シャイな (shy) and 本当の (true).

• シャイな自分にはカラオケはできない。

• Shainna jibun niwa karaoke wa dekinai.

• My shy-self can't sing karaoke.

• 本当の自分を探す旅に出る。

• Hontō no jibun o sagasu tabi ni deru.

• I'm going on a trip to find my true self.

It's also common to modify 自分 with a clause.

• 告白できなかった自分が情けない。

• Kokuhaku dekinakatta jibun ga nasakenai.

• I am disappointed by my confession-lacking-self.

PLURAL 自分

Just like other personal pronouns, 自分 can be turned into the plural form with suffixes, such as 自分たち or 自分ら.

• 自分たちでビザの申請をした。

• Jibun-tachi de biza no shinsei o shita.

• We filed a visa application ourselves.

• 自分らには関係ない。

• Jibun-ra ni wa kankei nai.

• It's got nothing to do with us.

IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS USING 自分 AS "IDENTITY"

Since 自分 is an introspective word meaning "self," it could also mean "identity" in some contexts. There are some idiomatic expressions using 自分, as a word for identity. Here are a few examples to give you an idea:

• 自分を殺す

• Jibun o korosu.

• Suppressing one's self
  (Literally: Killing one's identity)

• 自分を持つ

• Jibun o motsu.

• Being self-assured
  (Literally: Having one's identity)

• 自分を見失う

• Jibun o miushinau.

• Feeling lost
  (Literally: Losing one's identity)

That’s all folks!

Let me know if you enjoyed this grammar run-through :)

Have a great Sunday!