イギリス人です
igirisujin desu
To say I am british in Japanese, say イギリス人です (igirisujin desu).
イギリス人です states that you are a British national. The full sentence with the pronoun is 私はイギリス人です, but the pronoun is often left out.
What does it mean word for word?
イギリス人 means British person, with 人 marking a nationality and です makes the sentence polite.
Which one should you use?
Casual speakers may say 僕はイギリス人だよ, using boku, a casual pronoun often used by males. To stress it, 本当に私はイギリス人です。 means I'm really British.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
Replacing です with だ to get イギリス人だ makes the statement informal or blunt.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In the Kansai region you may hear 俺はイギリス人やで。
How does it change in a sentence?
To say you were British, change desu to deshita: イギリス人でした.
How do you pronounce it?
It is romanized igirisujin desu.
Did you know?
- The word イギリス is an unusual loanword because it did not come directly from English. It entered the Japanese language via the Portuguese word 'Ingles', which is why the 'L' sound shifted to an 'R' sound.
- While イギリス is the standard word for 'UK', you may see 英国 (eikoku) in formal documents or news reports. This term uses kanji rather than katakana to convey a sense of official dignity and prestige.
- When using the blunt form イギリス人だ (Igirisujin da), you might sound like a character in a hard-boiled detective novel or an anime, as it carries a level of decisiveness or even aggression rarely used in polite daily life.
Examples in context
- 私はイギリス人です。Watashi wa Igirisu-jin desu.I am British.
Example conversation
陽太 and 陽葵 are introducing themselves at a party.
- 陽太 Yotaはじめまして、陽太です。イギリス人です。Hajimemashite, Youta desu. Igirisu-jin desu.Nice to meet you, I am Youta. I am British.
- 陽葵 Himariそうですか！私は陽葵です。Sou desu ka! Watashi wa Himari desu.Is that so! I am Himari.
- 陽太 Yota陽葵さんは日本人ですか？Himari-san wa Nihon-jin desu ka?Are you Japanese, Himari?
- 陽葵 Himariはい、日本人です。Hai, Nihon-jin desu.Yes, I am Japanese.
