Japanese Language Stack Exchange
Japanese Language Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [demonstratives]

指示語. Questions regarding those words or particles that function similarly to the set of English adjectives and pronouns including "that", "these", "this", and "those".

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What is the difference between その and あの?

Superficially, I get the sense that あの is for something far away from both speaker and listener, and その is for something closer to the listener than speaker. However, I seem to get in trouble when dealing with time and past events, so I'm wondering…
zakvdm
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What are the origins of the 「こそあど」 demonstratives?

I've noticed the following sets of words that seem to have a very obvious pattern, and, of course, their meanings are very closely related: これ、　それ、　あれ、　どれ この、　その、　あの、　どの ここ、　そこ、　あそこ、　どこ What are the origins of these sets of words? I'm asking them…
voithos
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Irregularity of あ-series in demonstratives

Why is the あ-series in demonstratives irregular like the following: ここ　　そこ　　あ そこ　　　　　　どこ 　　　　　　　(expected あこ) こう　　そう　　あ あ　　　　　　　どう 　　　　　　　(expected あう) Is it related to the fact that こ, そ, ど all end with the vowel "o", and あ ends with the…
user458
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その中( に / で / から ) What is the correct choice of particles?

Excerpt from a JLPT practice question: Background information: the writer was looking for rental apartments. 次に行ったところは小さい会社ですが、そこの人は大変優しい人でした。　それにいいアパートもたくさんありました。　私はその中[Blank]好きな家を借りました。　今、住んでいるアパートより少し高いですが、新しくきれいなアパートです。 The answer is given as…
Flaw
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What does it mean when この is in front of a personal pronoun?

As in このオレさま and この僕も. I know the literal translation, but I never understood what the intent of it is.
Roy Fuentes
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「このＸのＹ」– What does この refer to?

I was reading about the upcoming movie この[世界]{せかい}の[片隅]{かたすみ}に - and I thought about what the title might mean. I quickly arrived at "In a corner of this world" (which some sources also seem to list it as). But... the official localization is "In…
obskyr
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What is その doing in そのあの子?

The following speech is from a video game called ファイアーエムブレム 新・暗黒竜と光の剣: 　　父上に万一の事があれば 　　マルスは 　　アリティア王家唯一の男子。 　　世界でただ1人の 　　神剣ファルシオン 　　継承者となるのです。 　　あの子は 　　アリティアの希望 　　アリティアの未来。 　　そのあの子を…マルスを 　　私たちに代わって 　　導いてやってください。 I'm confused…
user1478
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Is there a kanji form of ああ?

Is there a kanji form of ああ, like there is for [斯]{こ}う, [然]{そ}う, and [如何]{どう}? I've searched online, but neither Jisho.org, Wiktionary, or Weblio list a kanji version for demonstrative ああ, like they do for [斯]{こ}う, [然]{そ}う, and [如何]{どう}. I would…
LittleWhole
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「その＋名詞」ｖｓ「この＋名詞」

I am currently working through the N1 grammar preparation book 「新完全マスター　文法」and one of the later chapters of the book deals with the difference between 「その＋名詞」and「この＋名詞」. There are two examples given: For…
Florian Baierl
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Is その always or only occasionally a demonstrative adjective?

The following Japanese sentence was translated with その as "the": その 仕事の一部を誰かにやってもらったほうがいい。 You should get someone else to do some of the work for you. while I translated it with その as "that": You'd better get someone to do part of that job for…
yadokari
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What's the difference between それ、これ and あれ

What's the difference between these words? I read a lot of explanations in various books but they aren't clear for me. It says that depending on the object distance, the first, second or third needs to be used. But what does this "distance" mean? I…
Denis Sologub
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どうしてこの会話では、話し手と聞き手両方が「そこ」を使っているのに、同じ場所を指すのですか？

日本語 日本語の練習をしようと思ったので初めて日本語で質問を書きました。文法の間違いがあったら編集していただけませんか？ 僕はここでこんな会話を読んでいました。 アリス）　図書館はどこ？ ボブ）　ここが図書館だ。 アリス）　そこは図書館じゃない？ ボブ）　そこじゃない。図書館はここだ。 僕はこう翻訳しました。 Alice) Where is the library? Bob) Here is the library. Alice) Is there (where Bob is) not…
Sweeper
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Using demonstratives with time periods

I want to express 'These past one and a half years...'. E.g. 'These past one and a half years have been really fun!' What I've come up with so far is: この一年半間で。。。[past tense]. I think I've just made the mistake of literally translating it though.
Tams
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Extracting from, and introducing to Universe of Discourse using は and が with こそあど-demonstratives

Consider the following: このりんご（ は / が ）食べないでください。 Person A: どちらが東ですか。 　Person B：　こちら（ は / が ）東です。 Workbook answers are は for 1. and が for 2. In 1., I would expect the person to be pointing at the apple or at least gesturing with body language…
Flaw
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concerning あ こ そ words

Out of curiosity I looked up その in a monolingual dictionary, the first thing I see Is ［連体］《代名詞「そ」＋格助詞「の」から》What on earth is a "case marking particle"? Is this the の particle that simply means "of"? So, if I were to translate it literally, a phrase…
user4096
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