Okay. So I'm back. But hopefully I'll have time to post here some time as possible. But this time, I'm not teaching one by one since this is neither a school nor a class room.
This is a blog.
So this time, if I teach on this blog, it's either random lessons or revision stuffs. Or perhaps something you might as about.
In the manga series, Hokuto No Ken (Fist of the North Star), Kenshiro said おまえはもう死んでいる。（おまえは もう しんで いる）
He is the main character of Hokuto No Ken.
Anyway, what he said means, "You are already dead."
死ぬ（しぬ）means "To die" and believe me, it is not a very good word to use when speaking to elders. Unless you want to threaten someone...
The word おまえ（お前）means "you". If you're speaking to someone older, please don't use おまえ。Please use あなた。As for me, when I speak to friends or someone close to my age, I use 君（きみ）。But when I speak to someone older or someone with higher rank, of course I use あなた。
Yeah there are actually many different ways to say ”You" in Japanese.
あなた、君（きみ）、お前（おまえ）、あんた。
I don't recommend anyone to use おまえ and あんた。Unless you want to be aggressive and unless you want to insult someone. But it depends on how you use them, actually...
Here's another example from Hokuto No Ken.
Jagi, the antagonist of the story says おれの名をいってみろ！！（おれの なを いって みろ）Which means "Say my name!"
俺（おれ）means "Me".
How shall I explain this... Let's just say that おれ is a manly way to say "Me".
And here are ways to say "Me" in Japanese:
私（わたし）、わたくし、俺（おれ）、僕（ぼく）、あたし
I recommend not to use わたくし ... otherwise some of you might be confused between this and タクシー （Taxi).
あたし is for girls to use...
Okay, so here's the deal:
If you want to be polite or if you're speaking to someone who is older than you or those who are of higher rank, you use あなた and わたし。
If you want to speak to friends or those who are close to your age or those who are the same age as you, use きみ and ぼく。
If you're a girl who wants to make her sentence sound cute, use あなた and あたし。
For example：
ご主人様、あたしは今、お茶を作ります。（ごしゅじん さま あたしは いま おちゃを つくり ます）
”Master, I'm making green tea now"
EDIT: 2009/5/5
Due to copyright laws, I have to remove the images from Hokuto No Ken. I don't want to get sued by someone who owns the website.
