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What's the female equivalent for the informal ぼく? I've heard that females will
tend to use わたし, but then it's said to be formal. Doesn't there exist a female
informal "I"?
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2013-09-13T14:06:32.183
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pronouns gender
What's the female equivalent for the informal ぼく?
わたし is used by women and girls in both formal _and_ informal contexts; it is
not strictly reserved for formal or polite speech. In addition to わたし, younger
women often use the variant あたし in informal situations.
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2013-09-13T15:43:40.897
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Another informal personal pronoun that women use is `うち`. This may be limited
to younger women (if I had to guess, I'd say from teenagers up through women
in their 40's) and/or a regional dialects (Kansai is where I know of it).
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2013-09-13T16:02:41.880
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Yes, there are several.

> あたし

This is just a casual form of わたし used very commonly by young women. However,
it has a more "adult" feel to it then うち, as I feel women between 20 to 40 yrs
old use it more.

> うち

This would be second on the list of most common, especially with young
teenagers. I wouldn't expect a women past 30 yrs+ to use this form. It
originated in Kansai-dialect, but has spread around among teenagers. There is
a phenomenon were dialectical expressions become incorporated into slang of
teenagers.

> 自分{じぶん}

This is much rarer for women, but I've heard it used by women who are into
sports and that are more masculine.

> オラ

This one originated from the Tohoku area in Honshu. It is more dialectical,
but there are women who use it.

> わたし

The most common of them all. It can be used in many situations.

> Referring to yourself by your own first name
> ([Illeism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illeism))

This is more common in children, but some women use it to sound cute (although
some people despise it).

A mother or grandmother might also refer to themselves as おかあさん ・おばあさん also
when talking to there children.

You should keep in mind that each of these forms give off different nuances.
For example, some people feel うち and あたし are used by "unintelligent people",
and shouldn't be used. Also, I might missed some that are used in regional
dialects that I'm unaware of.
[Wikipedia](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E8%AA%9E%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%BA%E7%A7%B0%E4%BB%A3%E5%90%8D%E8%A9%9E)
has a huge list. Japanese pronouns are very complex!
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