I understand how kore sore and are work but I’m very confused about the other ‘Options’ such as kono dono sono and also dore please can someone just explain that whole genki chapter cause I’m very confused
こ~ object is close to speaker
そ~ object is close to listener
あ~ object is far from both
ど~ (unknown) “which object?”
~れ makes an independent noun
~の modifies a noun
can you explain modifies a noun and independent noun thankyou
kore = this (something close to the speaker) これは本です this is a book
sore = that (something close to the listener) それは本です that is a book
are = that over there (something close to neither the speaker nor listener) あれは本です that over there is a book
kono, sono and ano are the same, but they must be followed by a noun.
for example:
kono hon wa omoshiroi desuこの本はおもしろいです this book is interesting (close to the speaker)
sono hon wa omoshiroi desu その本はおもしろいです that book is interesting (close to the listener)
ano hon wa omoshiroi desu あの本はおもしろいです that book over there is interesting (a book close to neither speaker nor listener)
edit: beaten to it I see
Also it was really difficult for me to learn it in English as it was so similar to each other… but when you learn them using Hiragana then they are way different, download Anki or some flash-card app and put them there only written in Hiragana and belive me you will master it in no time!! remember first day with 12% correct answers are nothing scary, next day you will do 27% of them correct or less but in a week you will master then all, also don’t delete those words for a year or so, so anki will force you to memorize them in your long-term memory
independent noun means it’s used just like that:
これが好きです - I like this
それをください - Give me that please
どれが重いですか? - Which one is heavy?
If the word ends with の it modifies a noun:
この本 - this book
その肉 - that meat
どの車 - which car?
これは かばん です - This is a bag. [This] is independently the subject of the sentence.
このかばんは あかい です - This bag is red. [This bag] is the subject of the sentence, この cannot be the subject by itself.
If I confuse you more, I apologize. Hopefully someone else with better teaching skills can explain it better.
Thankyou I think it is begging to make sense. So I use の for things I want to further describe this book is interesting I would use この本 (then the rest of the sentence cuase I don’t know the words for interesting ) but if I just wanted to say this is a book I would say これは本です thanks if This is correct if it isn’t then maybe this is just a challenge I need an actual human speaker to explain rather than text and forums.
Ps I do learn in ひらがな I just didn’t have access to Japanese writing
That’s correct, この attaches to the noun you’re talking about, whereas これ is the noun. I had troubles with this at first as well, but you’ll get used to it pretty quickly, just make sure you go through a lot of practice sentences and it’ll seem like common sense after a while.
If you don’t have a method of typing in Japanese, I’d recommend installing a Japanese keyboard in your computer’s language/keyboard options.
And also, おもしろい「面白い」is “interesting” in Japanese.
One thing that I’ve kinda looked up, but am interested in reading more about, is the distinction between どれくらい and どのくらい though. I pretty much exclusively use どのくらい in conversation because it’s what pops into my head.
If it makes it easier, この is basically an abbreviation of これの, although これの itself is rarely if ever used. It’s basically just これ with a の-particle added on, and we know that の turns a noun into an adjective.
Although you’d never say これの (only この), you can see it at work in the plural: これら - these (pronoun) / これらの - these (adjective).
I don’t know if this is what you’ve already found, but historically, くらい used to be a noun. So どのくらい is the older one (it’s the one that was used in the Edo Period). But at some point, maybe in the Meiji Era, くらい became a particle, so to be consistent with that, どの had to change to どれ. Except it didn’t really, and some people kept saying どのくらい anyway. You could go quite deep into the very subtle difference in meaning between considering くらい a noun and considering it a relationship with the predicate, but what it ultimately comes down to is personal preference.
ありがとうございます。I’ve taken your advice and installed a keyboard now I just need to figure out how it works
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