When do I use 達 ［たち］?

[mikuji]

I have noticed that - although Japanese is not supposed to have plural form - some nouns do seem to have the suffix 達　［たち］ attached to give a plural.

These seem to be mainly pronouns or nouns referring to people.

Is there a general rule for when to use this suffix?

よろしく　お願いします


mikuji

[Airth]

You're pretty much right. It is most often heard when referring to people. For example; わたし達、あなた達、オレ達、ママ達、こども達 and so on. This may sound obvious, but I believe by using it you are inferring that all the people are bound together in some kind of common group. I only mention that because perhaps some people may dislike being grouped in such a way, though perhaps I'm being too sensitive.

It is not only limited to people, you can also use it to talk about a group of animals. So it is perfectly acceptable to say 鳥たち - とりたち - to mean birds. Personally, I've never used it this way myself, maybe I should try it and see what kind of reaction I get.

[Brody]

This is mostly conjecture, but I think it you use it when you need to emphasize the plural nature of the noun. Technically, you would never need to use it (you could use the singular in any grammatical situation and have it make sense, whereas in English you could not, ie "He go to the mall"); however it helps explain things and again, emphasize things.
I also think there are only certain nouns you use it with. Also, some nouns normally take ら instead of たち。I've had it explained to me that たち is more polite than ら, yet I'm not sure if that's totally true...there are some nouns that just sound better/more natural with ら over たち, despite politeness level.

[Airth]

I think you're right, Brody. Apparently, たち is used when you view the people on the same level as you, whilst ら contains the feeling of looking down on them. But as you say, there are some words such as かれ that I've only ever heard used with ら.