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By Masaki Mori

Watashi kara is the Japanese phrase for ‘from me’, explained in detail

How to say “from me” in Japanese

Japanese people would say “watashi kara”. It is the Japanese phrase for ‘from me’. Honestly, it’s a bit difficult to explain its nuance in English because it’s usually translated as just “I”. Nevertheless, in this blog post, I will try to explain this phrase in detail. And also, I will explain its usages through examples. Let’s get started!

Contents

Definition and meaning of “watashi kara”

First of all, let me start with a definition and meaning of “watashi kara”.

  • watashi kara – 私から (わたしから) : a phrase meaning ‘from me’ in Japanese.
Its definition and meaning are very simple and clear. To understand it better, however, let me explain its components in detail. Below are the ones.

  • watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
  • kara – から : a case particle which is often put after a noun to indicate a person who starts an action. In the phrase, it is put after the pronoun, “watashi”, to indicate exactly who starts an action. In this regard, its usage is quite similar to that of the English preposition, “from”.
From these two components, we can understand that the phrase, “watashi kara”, exactly means ‘from me’. Grammatically, they are a perfect match. Yet, the Japanese one still gives us a stronger impression than the English does.

Normally, Japanese native speakers don’t emphasize the subject word in a sentence. On the contrary, they often make a sentence without using any subject word. So, when “watashi” is used intentionally and emphasized by the particle, “kara”, the phrase they form gives us a strong impression. In this regard, it’s a bit different from the English one, “from me”.

Example of watashi kara #1

watashi kara joushi ni houkoku shi masu – 私から上司に報告します (わたしからじょうしにほうこくします)

I will report to my boss.

Below are new words used in the example sentence.

  • joushi – 上司 (じょうし) : a noun meaning ‘boss’ in Japanese.
  • ni – に : a case particle used after a noun to indicate a direction in which an action is heading. In the example, it is put after the noun, “joushi”, to indicate the direction in which the action is heading, described by the verb, “houkoku shi”.
  • houkoku shi – 報告し (ほうこくし) : one conjugation of the verb, “houkoku suru”, which means ‘to report’ in Japanese. In the example, it has been conjugated for a better connection with its following word.
  • masu – ます : an auxiliary verb put after a verb to make it polite. In the example, it is put after the conjugated verb, “houkoku shi”, to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “watashi kara”. Although it has been translated as “I” in this example, its original nuance in Japanese is more like “from me”.

In English, we can easily understand who takes an action since the subject word is usually used in a sentence unless it’s passive. On the other hand, in Japanese, understanding who takes an action can be difficult since people often omit the subject word. To avoid this kind of difficulty, the phrase, “watashi kara”, is very helpful. Actually, the example sentence above gives us a very clear meaning.

Example of watashi kara #2

watashi kara shitsumon ga ari masu – 私から質問があります (わたしからしつもんがあります)

Here’s a question from me.
Below are new words used in the example.

  • shitsumon – 質問 (しつもん) : a noun meaning ‘question’ in Japanese.
  • ga – が : a case particle put after a noun to make the subject word or the object word. In the example, it is put after the noun, “shitsumon”, to make the subject word in the sentence.
  • ari – あり : one conjugation of the verb, “aru”, which means ‘to exist’ or ‘to be’ in Japanese. It’s widely used to express existence of things. In the example, it is used to express the existence of ‘a question from me’.
This is another typical usage of “watashi kara”. In this example, it has been translated as “from me”. So, we can easily see their similarity here.

Summary and the rest

In this blog post, I’ve explained the phrase, “watashi kara”, in detail based on its components. And also, I’ve explained its usages through examples. Let me summarize them as follows.

  • watashi kara – 私から (わたしから) : a phrase meaning ‘from me’ in Japanese.
It consists of the following two parts.

  • watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
  • kara – から : a case particle which is often put after a noun to indicate a person who starts an action. In the phrase, it is put after the pronoun, “watashi”, to indicate exactly who takes an action. In this regard, its usage is quite similar to that of the English preposition, “from”.
This is what I’ve explained in this blog post.

I’ve focused only on the pronoun, “watashi”, so far. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s the only one noun which can be used together with the particle, “kara”. Actually, other nouns can also be used together with it in order to mean, say, ‘from him’, ‘from them’ or some such in Japanese.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.


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