How do we use ここ, そこ, あそこ?
What is a demonstrative for place ?
A demonstrative for place is a word that indicates the location of something by stating its relative position.
In English, it can be the adverbs “here” and “there”, for example.
But in Japanese, demonstratives for place,
ここ
koko
そこ
soko
あそこ
asoko
are nouns.
Adjectives of demonstrative for place?
Unlike この, その, あの, it is easy to make adjective form of ここ, そこ, あそこ.
We just need to add a particle の.
ここ（そこ、あそこ）のリンゴ
koko (soko, asoko) no ringo
an apple here
How to distinguish between ここ, そこ and あそこ?
We choose each ここ、そこ、あそこ as we think about
- Relational demonstrative
- Individual demonstrative
and I’ll explain them below.
Relational demonstrative
In Japanese, the relational position determines which demonstrative pronoun should be used.
- ここ (の) : to point out the place where I am
- そこ (の) : to point out the place where YOU are
- あそこ (の) : to point out the place where NEITHER of US is
For example,
ここは新宿です。
koko wa Akihabara desu.
This is Shinjuku here.
あそこの人はスパイです。
asoko no hito wa supai desu.
That person over there is a spy.
Individual demonstrative
An individual demonstrative for ,
- ここ (の) : to point out the thing that is near me
- そこ (の) : to point out the thing that is neither near to me nor far from me
- あそこ (の) : to point out the thing that is far from me
For example,
ここは動物園です。
koko wa doubutsuen desu.
Here is a zoo.
そこの人は忍者です。
soko no hito wa ninja desu.
That person there is a ninja.
Formal form
Demonstratives for place have formal form :
ここ → こちら
koko → kochira
そこ → そちら
soko → sochira
あそこ → あちら
asoko → achira
These formal forms are used for business occasions, for example.
こちらはトイレです。
kochira wa toire desu.
The toilet is here.
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