Lesson 14: Demonstratives
Just want to fit in a quick lesson here to open up some vocabulary options for future lessons. This will introduce you to the Japanese system of demonstratives. Japanese has four demonstratives: proximal こ
ko (here), medial そ
so (there (near you)), distal あ
a (over there), and interrogative ど
do (where). These four roots exist in a number of forms within a system that is highly predictable and logical (with only one exception). Let's take a look at the chart.
Code: Select all
prox med dist interrog
pronominal これ それ あれ どれ
kore sore are dòre
(Informal) こいつ そいつ あいつ どいつ
koitsu soitsu aitsu doitsu
attributive この その あの どの
kono sono ano dono
locative ここ そこ あそこ どこ
koko soko asoko dòko
directional こちら そちら あちら どちら
kochira sochira achira dòchira
(informal) こっち そっち あっち どっち
kotchi sotchi atchi dòtchi
method こう そう ああ どう
kō sō ā dṑ
type こんな そんな あんな どんな
konna sonna anna dònna
As you can see, the only irregular one is
asoko, which appears in place of the expected *
ako.
Pronominal should be fairly self explanatory:
これはペンです。
Kore wa pèn desu.
this TOP pen COP.POL
"This is a pen."
あの日
ano hi
"that day"
どれ
dore means "which one"
informal pronominal
These pronouns are most commonly used to refer to people, and less commonly objects, and may be taken as either familiar or pejorative, depending on context.
Koitsu and
aitsu are quite common, while
soitsu is less common, and
doitsu quite rare.
Attributive appears before nouns:
あいつは話全然聞かないしさ。
Aitsu wa hanashi zenzen kikanai shi sa.
"And the guy never listens to what I say."
Locative also self-explanatory:
あそこにある。
Asoko ni àru.
"It's over there."
どこ
dòko means "where"
Directional is not at all self-explanatory. Everything here applies for the informal version as well, which is really just a contracted form.
It can indicate direction:
こちらへどうぞ。
Kochira e dṑzo.
this-way to by.all.means
"Please come this way."
It can also indicate identity, much like "__ one" in English.
どっちがいい?
Dòtchi ga ii?
which-one SBJ be.good
"Which one do you want?"
It can also be a plain locative, especially when the speaker purposely wants to contrast locations:
そっちにある。
Sotchi ni àru.
"It's there (e.g. it's near you, not near me, etc.)."
Method is pretty much equivalent to "like __"
そうする。
Sō suru.
"(I) will do that (i.e. what you have suggested, I will do it like that).
どう
dō means "how". When it appears on its own it is generally used for opinions:
旅行はどうだった?
Ryokō wa dṑ datta?
trip TOP how COP-PST
"How was your trip?"
In other cases it is often equivalent to "what" in English:
どうする?
Dṑ suru?
"What (should we) do?"
Type is like "__ kind of"
あんな人
anna hito
"that kind of person"
どんな人?
dònna hito?
What kind of person?"
With adjectives, it is like "such"
こんないい人
konna ìi hito
"such a good person (as this)"
あんな遠い町
anna tōi machi
"(such) a village as far away as that one"
When combined with the adverbializer に
ni, it can be used to focus on the unexpected degree or extent of an adjective or adverb:
こんなに便利だとは思わなかった。
Konna ni bènri da to wa omowànakatta.
this-way ADV convenient COP COMP TOP think-NEG-PST
"I didn't realize/know/think it was this convenient."
(don't worry about とは
to wa right now).
Interrogatives cannot use this pattern for this purpose. Instead, the phrase どのぐらい
dono gurai (or どのくらい
dono kurai) is used:
お湯はどのぐらい熱い?
Oyu wa dono gurai atsùi?
HON-hot.water TOP which approximately be.hot
"How hot is the water?"
In informal speech this is often contracted to
don gurai.
That's all for now. I'll probably revise this slightly soon.