Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

Welcome to learn Japanese grammar absolute beginner. In this video series, you learn basic Japanese grammar patterns and phrases through easy to follow audio and visual cues. Here is what we will cover in this lesson.
Ready?
Let’s get started.
これ、それ、あれ。 (Kore, sore, are.)
Kat: In this lesson, we are looking at こそあど (kosoado) words.
Naomi: So how do we explain what they are, then?
Kat: Well, こそあど (kosoado) words are words that indicate what you are talking about. In Japanese, there are three main categories, this, that and that over there, and one category for questions. So this is,
Naomi: これ (kore)
Kat: And that is,
Naomi: それ (sore) .
Kat: So when it comes to こそあど (kosoado) words, remember that words that start with こ (ko) indicate something or someone close by. これ (kore). This.
Kat: Words that start with そ (so) indicate something or someone a little further away. それ (sore). That.
Kat: There are some others though too, aren’t they?
Naomi: Yes, like あれ (are)
Kat: あれ (are) also means that, but it’s used to refer something far away from both the speaker and the listener. So it’s over there.
Naomi: Right. And どれ (dore)
Kat: Now こそあど (kosoado) words that start with ど (do) are always the question words. They are like wh words in English. So どれ (dore) means which or which one. Let’s go over those こそあど (kosoado) words again.
Naomi: これ (kore)
Kat: This one
Naomi: それ (sore)
Kat: That one near you.
Naomi: あれ (are)
Kat: That one over there.
Naomi: どれ (dore)
Kat: Which one.
Naomi:これ、それ、あれ (kore, sore, are)
Naomi:これは何ですか。 (Kore wa nan desu ka.)
Naomi: これは何ですか。 (Kore wa nan desu ka.)
Eric: All right, let’s break that down. First word is?
Naomi: これ (kore)
Eric: This
Naomi: は (wa)
Eric: The topic marking particle.
Naomi: なん (nan)
Eric: What
Naomi: です (desu)
Eric: The copula.
Naomi: か (ka)
Eric: The question marking particle.
Naomi: これは何ですか。 (Kore wa nan desu ka.)
Eric: What is this?
Naomi: Right.
Eric: All right. We have this but what if I wanted to talk about that?
Naomi: You mean that one over there?
Eric: I mean that thing that’s right there within your reach.
Naomi: That will be それ (sore) for you.
Eric: それ (sore) means that close to the person you are speaking to. And how about that thing that’s way over there?
Naomi: あれ (are)
Eric: So you are not sure if what I am holding in my hand now is medicine. So you would ask me?
Naomi: それは薬ですか。 (Sore wa kusuri desu ka.)
Eric: Is that medicine?
And then I would say, “はい、これは薬です。 (Hai, kore wa kusuri desu.)” which means, yes, this is medicine.
So Naomi Sensei, what is this?
Naomi: これは何ですか。 (Kore wa nan desu ka.)
Eric: And what is that, the one right in front of you?
Naomi: それは何ですか。 (Sore wa nan desu ka.)
Eric: And what is that one over there?
Naomi: あれは何ですか。 (Are wa nan desu ka.)
これは何ですか。 (Kore wa nan desu ka.)
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