Japanese/Lessons/What is that?

Template:Japanese: Basic Japanese TOC In this lesson you will learn how to ask and identify objects.

Lesson

What is that?

When you want to ask someone what something is, you might ask

Kanji and hiragana: それは何ですか
Hiragana: それ　は　なん　です　か
Romaji: sore wa nan desu ka?
English: What's that?

Words

それ means "that" (sore)
何 (なん, nan) means "what" (from なに, nani)
Recall that AはBです (A wa B desu) means "A is B."
か (ka) is the question particle. Questions are formed by adding か to the end of a sentence. Unlike English, the word order doesn't change. Question words, such as 何 ("what"), simply replace the words you are asking about.

As in English, you would ask about an object depending on its distance from yourself (speaker) and the person you are talking to (listener). In Japanese, there are three words denoting an object's distance from the speaker and listener.

これ (kore) "this" - refers to an object near the speaker (e.g., you are holding the object)
それ (sore) "that" - refers to an object near the listener (e.g., the person you are talking to is holding the object)
あれ (are) "that over there" - refers to an object that is far away from both speaker and listener.

To summarize, これ (kore, this), それ (sore, that), あれ (are, that - far).

That is a...

To reply to the question それは何ですか you would say これは___です. "This is a ___." You should use the name of the object in place of the blank.

In the above question, person A used それ to indicate the object is near person B. In response, person B uses これ to indicate the object is near person B.

Note: The distance of an object from the speaker and listener is taken into consideration when asking or responding to a question. You must familiarize yourself with これ・それ・あれ

Try to remember how to reply to a question with these tips.

When someone asks you これ, you reply それ.
When someone asks you それ, you reply これ.
When someone asks you あれ, you also reply あれ.

も - Also

When you want to ask or say that something is also a type of object, you use the particle も.

Question: これ / それ / あれも___ですか "Is this/that/that (far) also a ___?"

There are two possible responses to this question...

If the answer is affirmative, you say 「はい、これ/それ/あれも___です。」.

If the answer is negative, you say 「いいえ、これ/それ/あれは___では　ありません」. (では is pronounced /dewa/, or /ja/ in less formal conversation.)

はい means "yes" or "correct"
いいえ means "no" or "incorrect"
___では　ありません means "is not ___". When you want to say something is not a type of object you use this phrase.

の - Possessive particle

The possessive particle, の, is added after a noun or pronoun to indicate that an object belongs to them.

Example

それは私の___です。 "That is my ___."
あれは___さんの___ですか。 "Is that (far) ___-san's ___?"
これは私の___ではありません。 "This is not my ___."

Note: You can omit the name of the object.

私のです。 "It's mine."
___さんのです。 "It's ___-san's."
私のではありません。 "It's not mine."

Whose is this?

A useful phrase to use is 「これは誰の___ですか。」 (これは　だれの ___　ですか) "Whose ___ is this?" or 「これは誰のですか」 "Whose is this?"

More specific

これ・それ・あれ, which was used to indicate an object's location can be used in their more specific form of この・その・あの to refer to a specific object.

この車 (この　くるま) "This (particular) car."
そのペン　"That (particular) pen."

Note: これ車, これペン is not possible.

Summary

Japanese	Pronunciation	English
これ	kore	"this/these one(s)" (object near the speaker)
それ	sore	"that/those one(s)" (object near the listener)
あれ	are	"that/those one(s) over there" (object not near either speaker or listener)
この〜	kono〜	"this/these 〜" (specific or particular object near the speaker)
その〜	sono〜	"that/those 〜" (specific or particular object near the listener)
あの〜	ano〜	"that/those 〜 over there" (specific or particular object not near either speaker or listener)

Dialog

Japanese

がくせい：　それはなんですか。

せんせい：　これはりんごです。

がくせい：　これもりんごですか。

せんせい：　いいえ、それはなしです。

English

Student: What is that?

Teacher: This is an apple.

Student: Is this also an apple?

Teacher: No, that is a pear.

Vocabulary

Japanese	English
りんご	apple
なし	pear

Exercise

Questions

1. How would you ask the following questions?

a) What is this?

b) What is that (far)?

c) What is that?

2. How would you reply to the following questions?

a) Q: それは何ですか A: (これ・それ・あれ) は___です。

b) Q: あれは何ですか A: (これ・それ・あれ) は___です。

c) Q: これは何ですか A: (これ・それ・あれ) は___です。

Answers

Answers to Lesson 2