- Forum >
- Topic: Japanese >
- "my older brother"
"my older brother"
Translation:わたしのあに
18 Comments
While you are correct that 兄 / 兄さん (ani/niisan) is usually used to refer to your own brother and お兄さん (oniisan) as the more polite form is used to refer to someone else's brother, I have seen them both interchanged as well.
For example "oniisan" can be used to refer to your own brother if there is a large distance between you as siblings, it's as if you are saying you don't know him very well or don't want to know him. And in the same way someone could use "niisan" to refer to an older male who is not a relative but who is someone who is important to you.
This usage is probably more common in manga than in daily life though, just want to point it out for those who didn't know.
I hope I got the kanji right, I'm still a newbie!
Because there is no "is" in the question. They're asking for a phrase, not a full sentence. If it asked you to translate *he is my older brother." then you could write 私のあにです