Learn Japanese Online - Free Studies - Demonstratives and Interrogatives

This chapter describes demonstrative and interrogative words, that is, words expressing things such as this, that, what, who and where. The demonstrative and iterrogative words are either pronouns, adjectives or adverbs, and may be divided into four groups depending on the prefix:

ko - Something near the speaker.
so - Something nearer the listener than the speaker.
a - Something at a distance from both speaker and listener.
do - Question

The following picture shows how to use the words for this and that; kore, sore and are. All other words also follow the same pattern.

The pattern is described in the table below:

	Near speaker	Near listener	Far from both	Question
What	これ kore this one	それ sore that one	あれ are that one	どれ dore which (of 3 or more)

Which	この kono this [x]	どの sono that [x]	あの ano that [x] (over there)	どの dono which [x], what kind of [x]

Direction	こちら kochira this way	そちら sochira that way	あちら achira that way	どちら dochira which way

Type	こんな konna this kind of	そんな sonna that kind of	あんな anna that kind of	どんな donna which kind

Way/manner	こう kou in this manner	そう sou in that manner	ああ aa in that manner	どう dou in which manner

Where	ここ koko here	そこ soko there	あそこ asoko over there	どこ doko where

Talking About People

When talking about people, especially if they are present, it is considered rude to use the words kono, sono, ano and dono. For instance, one should avoid sentences like "kono hito wa dare desu ka" that translates a rude way of saying to "Who is this person". Instead one should use the polite versions kochira, sochira, achira and donata.

Example - Introducing a Colleague

A: sochira wa donata desu ka?
B: kochira wa Tanaka desu.

A: Who is that person?
B: This is Tanaka.

Exceptions to Using Polite Language About People

There are, however, also some occations where it would be natural to use plain ko/so/a/do pronouns about people. For instance if the person you are speaking about cannot hear you, or when talking about your own children.

Example - Refering to someone in a story

In this example, (B) have told (A) a funny story about someone.

Japanese:

A：それは誰ですか。

B：それは（P）です。

Romaji:

A: sore wa dare desu ka?
B: sore wa P desu.

English:

A: Who do you refer to?
B: He/she is P.

Example - Looking at a photo

This example shows another valid occation to use sore for a person. (A) and (B) are talking about a person, who is not present. In the following situation, (B) is holding a photo in his hand.

Japanese:

A：それは誰ですか。

B：それは（P）です。

Romaji:

A: nee, sore dare?
B: (kore wa) imouto da yo.

English:

A: Say, who is she?
B: She is my younger sister.

Example - Talking about children

You can use the words kore/sore for your child, your students and your pets etc. But you can't use it for other people's children and students, as it would be considered a rude word. For instance, if a colleague, that does not have own children, comes with a child, it may be better to use polite Japanese such as "donata no okosan desu ka?".

In the following situation, at a kindergarten event, a nurse (A) finds an unknown child and asks another nurse (B) ask about this. The child's mother (C) comes into the conversation.

Japanese:

A：この子は誰ですか。

B：さあ．．．

C：すみません、それは家の子です。

Romaji:

A: kono ko wa dare desu ka?
B: saa...
C: sumimasen, sore wa uchi no ko desu.

English:

A: Who is this child?
B: I'm not sure...
C: Sorry, he is my (our) child.

Example - Pets

Sometimes "dare" is used for pets. For example, if you found a piece of cake was damaged on the table in the kitchen, and your cats stay are in the room - It's obvious that one or more cat is
the culprit, but you don't know who did it. So, you could ask them:

Japanese:

あれを食べたのはだれ。

Romaji:

are o tabeta no wa dare?

English:

Who did eat that?

Other Interrogative Pronouns

Some other interrogative pronouns are the following:

誰［だれ］	dare	who
どなた	donata	who (polite)
どちらさま	dochirasama	who (very polite)
なん、何［なに］	nan, nani	what
何人［なんにん］	nannin	how many people
幾ら［いくら］	ikura	how much
幾つ［いくつ］	ikutsu	how many
いつ	itsu	when
どうして、なぜ	doushite, naze	why?
どうやって、どのように	douyatte, donoyouni	how?
どのような	donoyouna	which kind of?
どのくらい	donokurai	how long?