Learn Japanese with JapanesePod101.com!

Brother and sister

Eternal Wind

Eternal Wind

聖天使
Joined
30 Jan 2004
Messages
826
Reaction score
2
How to translate brother and sister from japanese into english in many ways?
Pls help me cos i m confused with the word onee san and oni san.....

🙂 Thanks
 
brothers is kyodai and sisters shimai...

I remember onii and onee by onee can be said more annoyingly (oneeeeeeeeh) and since i have a sister i can imagine myself annoying her by saying it weird. Onii must be the other one (brother :p)

Now the kanji for imoto and ane.... :mad:
 
sou desu....thanks Ewok, but is it the word for brother is onii san and sister is onee san OR is it onee san for brother and onei san for sister??
 
Hmm, I'm at school right now so I don't have my dictionary but I'm pretty sure sister (or brother for that matter) is onei. I'm just trying to remember though, I will check my dictionary when I get home. And in your first post I noticed you wrote 'oni' instead of 'onii', which I think means demon or devil. Just guessing though, I'll check when I get back to my dictionary :).
 
In addition to the already good advice -

imouto - younger sister (妹）
ane / onee san - older sister (姉 / お姉さん）
otouto- younger brother (弟）
ani / onii san - older brother （兄 / お兄さん）

Ane and ani are familiar terms, used for people in your "group"
 
oni, n. 鬼 1. devil. 2. cruel person.
That's what my dictionary has. It also says exactly what mandylion said about onee and onii. I'm sure nobody would notice if you said oni but hehe, it would be embarrasing to call someone a devil so make sure you get that extra い in there. Also I have a question. I know these can be used for brother and sister but don't you also use them when talking to a stranger? I was confused about this and when to use it. どもありがとうございます！
 
The word for "brother" is "otoko no kyo-dai". The word for "sister" is "onna no kyo-dai".

I force my Japanese students to use these words. I am such a meanie!!!

Technically, "oni-san" does not mean "brother", etc.
 
Back
Top Bottom