KiiT INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

JAPANESE

Japanese demonstrative pronouns

kore this [refers to a thing near or closer to the speaker and

far from the listener]

sore that [refers to a thing far from the speaker and closer

to the listener]

are that over there [refers to a thing far away from both the speaker

and the listener]

dore which

Example:

Kore wa hon desu. This is a book.

Sore wa hon desu. That is a book.

Are wa hon desu. That over there is a book.

KAIWA

Riya : Kore wa nan desuka. What is this?

Shopkeeper : Sore wa sushi desu. That is sushi.

Yamada : are wa nan desuka. What is that over there?

Kimura : are wa gakkō desu. OR gakkō desu. That over there is a school.

Yamada : dore ga anata no pen desuka. Which one is your pen?

Kimura : kore desu. This one.

Sumiko : sore wa hindīgo no hon desuka. Is that a Hindi language book?

Tanaka : dore desuka. kore desuka. Which one? This one?

Sumiko : hai, sore desu. Yes, that one.

Tanaka : kore wa hindīgo no hon dewa arimasen. Sansukurittogo no

hon desu.

***
If you want to be slightly more specific than kore, sore and are, you can use
kono, sono, ano and dono together with a noun.
Kono
Sono
Ano
Dono

Kono/ sono / ano / dono + noun

Example:
Kore wa pen desu. This is a pen.
Kono pen wa hyaku en desu. This pen is of 100 yen.

Kore wa kaban desu. This is a bag.

Kono kaban wa akai desu. This bag is red.

dore and dono are the question words. Remember to use the particle ga
with it.
Dore ga Riyasan no enpitsu desuka. Which is Riya’s pencil?
Kore desu. OR Kore wa riyasan no enpitsu desu. This is Riya’s pencil.

Dono hon ga ii desuka. Which book is good?

There is one more set in this ko so a do series to indicate locations.
koko this place, here

soko that place, there

asoko that place over there

doko which place, where

Sumimasen, ginkō wa doko desuka. Excuse me, where is the bank?

(Ginkō wa) asoko desu. The bank is right over there.

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