Demonstrative of Recent Article

Demonstrative in Japanese: Ko-so-a-do System

Japanese has a lot of demonstrative (Pronoun).
And, those Demonstrative (Pronoun) is often used with noun.
Almost all Japanese demonstrative has the "Ko, So, A, Do initials".

These are the basic definitions of "こ(ko), そ(so), あ(a), ど(do) system".

Ko-So-A-Do System

	Near speaker	Near listener	Far from both	Question
What	kore これ this one	sore それ that one	are あれ that one	dore どれ which (of 3 or more)
Which	kono この this "***"	sono その that "***"	ano あの that "***"(over there)	dono どの which "***" what kind of "***"
Where	koko ここ here	soko そこ there	asoko あそこ over there	doko どこ where
Direction （The word in parentheses is informal.）	kochira こちら this way	sochira そちら that way	achira あちら that way	dochira どちら which way
	kocchi こっち	socchi そっち	acchi あっち	docchi どっち
Ｗｈｏ (Dirty words)	koitsu こいつ this guy	soitsu そいつ that guy	aitsu あいつ that guy (over there)	doitsu どいつ who guy
Way/manner	kou こう in this manner	sou そう in that manner	aa ああ in that manner	dou どう in which manner
	konna こんな	sonna そんな	anna あんな	donna どんな

These are the basic definitions of "こ(ko), そ(so), あ(a), ど(do) system".

• ko(こ) - Something near the speaker.
• so(そ) - Something nearer the listener than the speaker.
• a(あ) - Something at a distance from both speaker and listener.
• do(ど) - Question

Pronoun for things: Kore, Sore, Are, Dore

• "Kore, Sore, Are, Dore" are demonstrative pronouns and you choose one depending on the position of the object:
• "Kore(これ)" = This thing (close to you)
• "Sore(それ)" = That thing (close to your listener; close to the other person, far to the speaker)
• "Are(あれ)" = Tha over there (far both from you and the speaker)/That (far away to both the listener and the speaker. sharing information) Dore = which? (of 3 or more things.)
• "Dore(どれ)" is the question word, that is translated as "which".

 

The following picture shows how to use the words for "Kore, Sore, Are, Dore".

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
What is this?	これは何？ kore wa nani?	これは何ですか？ kore wa nandesuka?
What is that?	それは何？ sore wa nani?	それは何ですか？ sore wa nandesuka?
This is a frog.	これはカエルだよ。 kore wa kaeru dayo.	これはカエルです。 kore wa kaeru desu.

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
What's that over there?	あれは何？ are wa nani?	あれは何ですか？ are wa nandesuka?
That is the sun.	あれは太陽だよ。 are wa taiyou dayo.	あれは太陽です。 are wa taiyoudesu.

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
Where is the thing for cracking nutshells?	クルミを割るアレ、どこだっけ？ kurumi wo waru are, doko dakke?	クルミを割るアレ、どこでしたでしょうか？ kurumi wo waru are, doko deshita deshouka?
It is in kitchen.	それは台所だよ。 sore wa daidokoro dayo.	それは台所です。 sore wa daidokoro desu.

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
Which one do you like?	(あなたは)どれが好き? (anata wa) dore ga suki?	(あなたは)どれが好きですか? (anata wa) dore ga sukidesuka?
Which is correct?	どれが正しい？ dore ga tadasii?	どれが正しいですか？ dore ga tadasiidesuka?
"Look at that!" "What?"	"あれ見て！" "どれ？" "are mite!" "dore?"	"あれ見てください！" "どれですか？" "are mitekudasai!" "doredesuka?"

Prenominal adjective: Kono, Sono, Ano, Dono

Kono, Sono, Ano, Dono are prenominal adjective.

• "Kono(この)" = This (right here near you)
• "Sono(その)" = This That (over there) further from you
• "Ano(あの)" = That (over there) further from you
• "Dono(どの)" = Which (of 3 or more objects)

Both "kono" and "kore" have the same meaning in English.
So if "kono" means "this" and "kore" means this, what is the difference in their uses?
The confusion comes from the fact that in English, the same word "this" is being used in 2 grammatically different sentences.

i.e."This(これ;kore) is a book" and "This(この;kono) book is expensive".

So a quick answer is: "kono", "sono", "ano" and "dono" are called pre-nominals and connect directly to a noun without any particles between the two.

 

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
This frog is lovely. This frog, close to the speaker. =Kono kaeru.	このカエルはかわいい。 kono kaeru wa kawaii.	このカエルはかわいいです。 kono kaeru wa kawaiidesu.

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
There is children in that bus. That bus, close to the listener. =Sono basu	そのバスに子供がいる。 sono basu ni kodomo ga iru.	そのバスに子供がいます。 sono basu ni kodomo ga imasu.

English	Informal Japanese	Formal Japanese
That sun over there is very glared. That sun over there, not close to list. or speaker: ano taiyou	あの太陽はすごくまぶしい。 ano taiyou wa sugoku mabushii.	あの太陽はすごくまぶしいです。 ano taiyou wa sugoku mabushii desu.

 

Which frog? (of 3 or more objects)

= どのカエル？(dono kaeru?)
= どのカエルですか？(dono kaeru desuka?)

 

 

Hararie