Demonstratives

8.2. Demonstratives

8.2.1. Three locations

Demonstratives are words to point something based on its location. "This" and "that" are English demonstratives. They can also be used to point something talked about in a conversation, such as "That's a nice idea."

English demonstratives and similar words form pairs, one for things near to the speaker and the other for things far from the speaker, such as "this" and "that", "these" and "those", and "here" and "there". But this system is different from Japanese. If you know Spanish, it will help you learn the Japanese demonstratives. Spanish has three locations for demonstratives, instead of two. For example, a masculine singular object is addressed by these three words: éste, ése, and aquél, each representing near to the speaker, near to the addressee, and far from both. This is the same as Japanese. In this system, not only the speaker's position but also the addressee's position is important. You might think this is complicated, but remember most languages have three kinds of personal pronouns: first person (the speaker), second person (the addressee), and third person (other people). Having three locations for demonstratives is basically the same as having three kinds of personal pronouns.

Some Japanese demonstratives are shown below:

Kana:
Romanization:	ko	re
Meaning:	this one

Kana:
Romanization:	so	re
Meaning:	that one

Kana:
Romanization:	a	re
Meaning:	that one

These are equivalents of this and that, but I added the word one after this and that because they don't combine with a following noun.

The first one and the second one are the same in English, but they are different in Japanese (and in Spanish, as I have written). The first one,

, is used for a thing near to the speaker. The second one,

, is used for a thing near to the addressee. And the third one,

, is used for a thing far from both. For instance, imagine both you and a friend have an apple. You call your apple

and your friend's apple

. If you and your friend see an apple on a table, both of you call it

.

Demonstratives used in conversation depends on the location of the speaker, the addressee, and the thing that is referred to. The table below shows which demonstratives to be used when A and B are talking:

The location
of the referred object

Demonstratives
used by A

Demonstratives
used by B

near to both A and B


ko	re
this


ko	re
this

nearer to A


ko	re
this


so	re
that

nearer to B


so	re
that


ko	re
this

far from both A and B


a	re
that


a	re
that

Note that

and

are not used together.

8.2.2. The ko-so-a-do words

You might have noticed that the Japanese words for this and that I explained above,

, and

, are similar in pronunciation. The Japanese word for which is also similar; it is

"dore". Not only these demonstrative pronouns but also other demonstratives and interrogatives have systematic phonemes.

The demonstratives and interrogatives with the systematic phonemes are called

"kosoadokotoba", the ko-so-a-do words.

"ko" is the prefix for things near to the speaker and not nearer to the addressee,

"so" is for things nearer to the addressee,

"a" is for things far from both, and

"do" is for interrogatives.

The table below shows most of the ko-so-a-do words:

Demonstratives

Interrogatives

Location

Near to the
speaker

Near to the
addressee

Far from both

Pronoun
(thing)


ko	re
this one


so	re
that one


a	re
that one


do	re
which one

Pronoun
(place)


ko	ko
this place, here


so	ko
that place, there


a	so	ko
that place, there


do	ko
which place, where

Pronoun
(direction)


ko	t	ti
this direction


so	t	ti
that direction


a	t	ti
that direction


do	t	ti
which direction

Attributive
(thing)


ko	no
this ...


so	no
that ...


a	no
that ...


do	no
which ...

Attributive
(type)


ko	n	na
this kind of ...


so	n	na
that kind of ...


a	n	na
that kind of ...


do	n	na
what kind of ...

Adverb
(manner)


kô
thus, in this manner


sô
in that manner


â
in that manner


dô
how

Note that pronouns and attributives are different. Pronouns cannot combine with a noun, while attributives need a following noun. The English word this is used for both "this is a pen" (pronoun) and "this pen is blue" (attributive), but they are different in Japanese. The former is

"kore", and the latter is

"kono". Compare the English words we and our. We categorize the former as a pronoun and the latter as an attributive here.

Note that the demonstrative pronoun for a place far from both the speaker and the addressee is

"asoko", not

"ako".

Here is an example of ko-so-a-do words:

Kana:
Romanization:	E	ki	wa	do	ko	de	su	ka	.
Structure:	noun (station)		topic marker	pronoun (where)		copula (is + polite)		question marker
Meaning:	Where is the station?

Kana:
Romanization:	E	ki	wa	a	t	ti	de	su	.
Structure:	noun (station)		topic marker	pronoun (that direction)			copula (is + polite)
Meaning:	The station is in that direction. (with pointing at some direction)

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