This and That

This, That, That Over There…

Up until this point, you’ve only been able to describe things in a way that would translate as, “The water is blue” or “It is a cat.” These sentences have their time and place but aren’t as common or descriptive as you may need them to be for every situation you may find yourself in. This is where words like これ, それ, and あれ come in. These words are translated as “this,” “that,” and “that over there.” With these words, things are about to get a whole lot more human.

Vocabulary

Kanji	Kana	English
	これ	This
	それ	That
	あれ	That (over there)
	この	This + NOUN
	その	That + NOUN
	あの	That over there + NOUN

As described above, you’re learning about this, that, and that over there! So instead of being limited to “is it meat?” you could say something like “is this meat?” while pointing aggressively at the plate of tofu in front of you.

The grammatical pattern for how to use these words is identical to the AはBです pattern you learned before. Just replace “A” with one of these choice words and you’re off to the races.

One thing to note before you move on and decide that this is all extremely easy and doesn’t deserve its own section in this course, you need to be aware that there are two words for “that” in Japanese, versus the one in English. Explanation below!

これ：Refers to what is in your possession, something very close to you, or something you’re currently holding.

それ：Refers to something that is in possession of the person you’re talking to, something very close to that person, or something they’re holding.

あれ：Refers to something that is far away from both people in the conversation. You can think of this word as “that over there.”

Side Note: This こ、そ、あ pattern is going to be very important in this section so make sure you’re comfortable with it before moving on.

Examples:

Kanji	Kana	English
これは何ですか。	これはなんですか。	What is this?
それは肉ですか。	それはにくですか。	Is that meat?
あれは魚です。	あれはさかなです。	That is fish.

This Noun, That Noun, and the Other Noun

Alright, so you’re now able to say stuff using the これはBです pattern. But what if you need to describe something that is specifically yours?! That pattern doesn’t allow for any extra words! That’s where words like この、その、あの come in. Notice the こ、そ、あ pattern? Before we go much further you need to know about the…

の Particle

The introduction of the この、その、あの words is the perfect time to describe the extremely useful particle の! The particle の is a grammatical device that connects two nouns together with the power of magic and duct tape. Linguistically you could talk about this particle, (or any particle for that matter,) for hours, but that’s no fun for anyone. A quick and dirty explanation is to just think of の as English’s apostrophe “s”. You know that thing that applies ownership? This thing: “ ’s ”. Just think of の as applying apostrophe “s” to whatever it’s modifying and you’re well over halfway to the finish line labeled “knowledge”.

Examples:

Kanji	Kana	English
私の犬は可愛いです。	わたしのいぬはかわいいです。	My dog is cute.
ケイトさんの電話番号は何ですか。	けいとさんのでsんわばんごうはなんですか。	What is Kate’s phone number?
私のペンは黄色いです。	わたしのぺんはきいろいです。	My pen is yellow.
このコンピューターは小さいです。	このコンピューターはちいさいです。	My computer is cheap.

Oh この！How do I use this?

To use この、その、あの you use the pattern このAはBです. Does that pattern look familiar? It’s just like the AはBです pattern with some extra pizazz.

Examples:

Kanji	Kana	English
この水は冷たいです。	このみずはつめたいです。	This water is cold.
その肉は美味しいです。	そのにくはおいしいです。	This meat is delicious.

Before You Move On…

…Boy, this lesson was a doozy! Before you move on be able to describe things using the words これ、それ、あれ, understand how the の particle works, understand how to connect the nouns この、その、あの to other nouns.