あれ vs それ

[Fedgrub]

こんばんは

Here is a scenario. Two people are at a restraunt and have two plates. One is near the person who will be asking the question, and the other is obviously with the person answering.

I was wondering, when someone asks you something like "あれはなんですか？ ", when you are answering would you still answer as "あれはうにです " or would you answer with "それへうにです" if the plate was closer to you?

Please let me know if I have written this confusing haha or even if my Japanese is wrong.

Thanks!

[haka]

I think the jist of the question is that yes you can change "あれ" and "それ" and"これ" around during a conversation. The answer would probably be　”これはうにです”　(Im guessing that the "へ" was a typo).

It's kind of a confusing and good question. I think that hand-motions would probably work better than words, and you would most likely just say "uni desu". in fact, some of the only times I will use "それ" is when something is close enough to be "これ", but i don't want it to be. like for example, the bill.

ああ、それはおかんじょうですか。

[maxiewawa]

あれ is used for things that are far away from both the speaker and the listener, so I think that the answer would use あれ and not any of the others.

Is that helpful? Sorry, it is a little confusing!

[jemstone]

if i recall correctly... one of the earlier beginner lessons in season 1 had something like this which, though the crew (peter, natsuko, and sakura) didn't address it, i found it quite odd. i think it was about yakitori and depachika.

the conversation was mostly about asking how much is the yakitori. somewhere in between was something like this,
sakura: これわ　いくらですか？
natsuko: それわ　いっぽん　ひゃくいぇんです。
sakura: これわ　いくらですか？
natsuko: それわ　いっぽん　にひゃくいぇんです。
sakura: それわ　いくらですか？
natsuko: これわ　いっぽん　さんびゃくいぇんです。

so i was imagining the scene. maybe the first two yakitori was closer to sakura (who was asking how much are those yakitori) than natsuko so she used "korewa" to ask. and natsuko, because it was further away from her, used "sorewa" to answer coz it was further away from her.

and then i imagine the last one to be closer to natsuko (thus further from sakura) so sakura asked with "sorewa" and natsuko answered with "korewa".

[Fedgrub]

Thanks for your responses. I guess we can conclude that it depends on your perspective to the object rather than the other persons.

Thanks!

[Psy]

Alrighty, this isn't a hard concept to grasp, so let's get it clear from the get-go:

これ - towards you
それ - towards the person you're speaking to
あれ - away from both

It depends entirely where the object is located relative to the positions of you and the person with whom you're talking. If it's close to you, use the こ sound, if it's close to her use the そ sound, if it's away from both of you use the あ sound. Back to Fedgrub's scene. Picture it-- you're at a restaurant, sitting across from a friend, and have just been served two amazingly weird looking dishes. You look at your friend's dish, and ask her:

それはなんですか？ (what is that [over on your plate]?)
これはうなぎです。(this is Eel [on my plate])

You then look at a dish being served at the next table over. You ask her, indicating with a glance:

あれはなんですか？ (what's that [over on the table away from both of us]?)
あれは？　あれもうなぎです。(that? That's Eel as well.)

There really isn't anything more to it.

[Fedgrub]

Alrighty, this isn't a hard concept to grasp, so let's get it clear from the get-go:

これ - towards you
それ - towards the person you're speaking to
あれ - away from both

It depends entirely where the object is located relative to the positions of you and the person with whom you're talking. If it's close to you, use the こ sound, if it's close to her use the そ sound, if it's away from both of you use the あ sound. Back to Fedgrub's scene. Picture it-- you're at a restaurant, sitting across from a friend, and have just been served two amazingly weird looking dishes. You look at your friend's dish, and ask her:

それはなんですか？ (what is that [over on your plate]?)
これはうなぎです。(this is Eel [on my plate])

You then look at a dish being served at the next table over. You ask her, indicating with a glance:

あれはなんですか？ (what's that [over on the table away from both of us]?)
あれは？　あれもうなぎです。(that? That's Eel as well.)

There really isn't anything more to it.

Thanks Psy, I really like the way you explain things.

[maxiewawa]

*polite applause*

Nice one Psy! I was ready to get out my video camera to explain everything as best I could with diagrams and vector angles, but you did a good job with just text!

[Fedgrub]

*polite applause*

Nice one Psy! I was ready to get out my video camera to explain everything as best I could with diagrams and vector angles, but you did a good job with just text!

I would have been really suprised to see a video in here haha. Not what I would have expected, but would have definately made it easy to understand!

[jkeyz15]

Also note that unless for some kind of clarification or some kind emphasis you would not repeat これ・それ・あれ　は

例【れい】：

A:　「あれはなんですか？」
B:　「てれびです。」

The physical aspects, as Psy said, are not hard to grasp. The abstract concepts of these words are a little more.....abstract Takes a bit more of explanation.

[haka]

Here is a link to the YomiKaki no Tsubo 3-4 episode dealing with Are Sore and Kore:

http://www.nhk.or.jp/kokugo34/daihon/13.html

If you can fish a bit through the site, Its episode 13. I don't know how to find and post the direct link.

http://www.nhk.or.jp/school/