Part I: Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns
In Japanese, there are several different demonstrative adjectives and such just like there are in English. They help to make sentences a lot clearer, especially when you get to the point were subjects are starting to be omitted or you start talking about things that you don't know what to call (which probably comes up a lot with foreigners in Japan. >.>; ). In Japanese, instead of saying "this thing" or "that thing", you use kore, sore and are.
これ／kore — This is used to say "this thing here [in front of me]". It's only to be used for things that are in the speaker's immediate proximity.
Ex. これはくるまです。
(Kore wa kuruma desu.)
This [thing in front of me] is a car.
それ／sore — Sore is used to identify things that are closer to the person that you're speaking with (i.e. "that thing there [in front of you]").
Ex. それはねこです。
(Sore wa neko desu.)
That [thing in front of you] is a cat.
あれ／are — Are is used to refer to things that are not close to the speaker or the person being spoken to (i.e. that thing [over there]).
Ex. あれはひえいさんですか。
(Are wa Hiei-san desu ka.)
Is that [thing over there] Mt. Hiei?
Another word to consider in this set would be dore, which translates to...which. It's essentially a question word (and will therefore be gone into a bit more detail in the next section), but some consider it part of this set, so I decided to include it here.
Ex. どれですか。
(Dore desu ka.)
Which one is it (that you're referring to)?
To be a bit more specific with the things that you're talking about, you can use the words kono, sono and ano.
Ex. このえんぴつはながいです。
(Kono enpitsu wa nagai desu.)
This pencil [I have] is long.
そのほんはむずかしいです。
(Sono hon wa muzukashii desu.)
That book [you have] is difficult.
あのたてものはとてもせがたかいです。
(Ano tatemono wa totemo segatakai desu.)
That building [over there] is very tall.
You can also use the question word どの (dono) in a similar fashion, but due to special rules regarding its use, we'll discuss it more in the next section.
Another set of demonstrative words to know are those regarding place. They're very similar to the set you just learned, but have a few differences, namely in spelling.
ここ／koko — Koko is used to say "here" or something that's near the speaker.
Ex. ここはウアシングトンディーシーです。
(Koko wa Uashinguton Dee Shii desu.)
This [place] is Washington D.C.
そこ／soko — Soko is used to say "there" or refer to an object or thing near the listener.
Ex. そこはラメンやです。
(Soko wa ramenya desu.)
That [place near you] is the ramen shop.
あそこ／asoko — Like are and ano, it's used to refer to things that aren't close to the speaker or the listener.
Ex. あそこはなんですか。
(Asoko wa nan desu ka.)
What's over there?
There is also the question word どこ (doko), which we will discuss in the next section.
Speaking of which, let's get to it.
