"anata wa?" + "san wa" Lesson 1.1

Konnichiwa, In lesson 1.1 it says both "anata wa?" + "san wa?" mean "and you?" How do you know when to use which? Sentances in question: Kenny:Watashi no namae wa Kenī desu, anata wa? & Kenny:Igirisu kara ki mashita. Sayaka san wa?

I think you're reading it wrong. San is a honorific. San is used a a sign of respect and is put behind someones name. You can compare San to MR./MRS. in the English language. So the *san* part is becomes part of the name. In this case, Sayake-san. *Wa* is used to mark the topic, in this case Sayake. Who are you talking about, *Sayake*. The topic is Sayake, thus the placement of the *WA* after her name. You have more of these honorific forms: - San, used in general for women and men. It's a common used form. - Sama, used when taking to someone in higher position or used for elders. More respectfull then San. - Senpai. Someone with more experience in a specific field. - Sensei . Translated as teacher. There are a few more, but i'm studying for a month now. So I think the experts here, can help you out better then I can.

Ah, yes I read it wrong and put the "san" in with the "wa?" But why do they use "anata wa?" the first time Kenny bounces the same question back to Sayaka and just her name then "wa?" the second time he does? Is it just a shorter way of doing it? Like in english saying "I'm from England. You?" as opposed to "I'm from England, and what about yourself?" I have copied the full text so you can see it all in context: Sayaka:O namae wa nan desu ka? Kenny:Watashi no namae wa Kenī desu, anata wa? Sayaka:Sayaka desu. Kenī san, doko kara ki mashita ka? Kenny:Igirisu kara ki mashita. Sayaka san wa? Sayaka:Ōsaka kara ki mashita. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu.

Well at that point Sayake has intoduced herself to kenny. So he now uses her name instead. When he used anata wa he did not know here name at the time. Because he know it after she tells it to him, he switches to use her name.

Konnichiwa Adam-san, and Ashwinr-san, :P Thank you Ashwinr-san for an excellent feedback on Adam-san's question. As you have already noted, *'Anata wa?'* said with a rising intonation on the *'wa'* is a question which can literally translate as "You are?" but expresses more something like "As for you?" In Japanese, you will find that people often omit parts of sentences - and it's possible to state just a topic and omit the rest of the sentence if the context is obvious. This one-topic is most commonly, a question - made by simply emphasizing and raising the intonation on the *'wa'* particle that marks the topic. So, when you see or hear a phrase that has a topic and the particle *'wa'* with a raising intonation - you can assume that someone is asking you "AS FOR such and such - please answer the question I have about it." Here's an example: *Go-chūmon wa?* _[As for your order?]_ ___Implying__: Please tell me what I can get for you._ I hope this helps! :P - Sayaka

It does :) Arigato

Dō itashimashite! You are very welcome. -Sayaka :P