kosoado kotoba こそあど言葉

In Japanese, "Kosoado Words," Kosoado Kotoba こそあど言葉, or even "Kosoado Pronouns," are the words start with ko, so, a, do こそあど, like kore, kono, koko, kou, konna, kocchi, and are used as demonstrative and interrogative pronouns.

Source: japanesewithanime.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)

• List
• Prefixes
  
  • ko こ
  • so そ
  • a あ
  • do ど
    
    • Questions
    • Do... demo ii

List

Each set of kosoado words refers to a different type of thing, so here are links to articles about each and every one of them:

• kore, sore, are, dore これ, それ, あれ, どれ
  This thing, that thing, what thing? (nouns.)
• kono, sono, ano, dono この, その, あの, どの
  This X, that X, what X? (adjectives.)
• koko, soko, asoko, doko ここ, そこ, あそこ, どこ
  Here, there, where?
• kou, sou, aa, dou こう、そう、ああ、どう
  This manner, that manner, how?
  Like this, like that, like what? (adverbs.)
• konna, sonna, anna, donna こんな、そんな、あんな、どんな
  Such as this, such as that, such as what?
  Like this, like that, like what? (adjectives.)
• koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu こいつ、そいつ、あいつ、どいつ
  This one, that one, what one?
  This guy, that guy, what guy?
• konata, sonata, anata, donata こなた、そなた、あなた、どなた
  This direction, your direction, that direction, what direction?
  My party, your party, their party, whose party?
  Me, you, them, who?
  Archaic, archaic, now means "you," polite who?
• kochira, sochira, achira, dochira こちら、そちら、あちら、どちら,
  This direction, that direction, what direction?
  My party, your party, their party, whose party?
  Me, you, them, who?
• kocchi, socchi, acchi, docchi こっち、そっち、あっち、どっち
  This direction, that direction, what direction?
  This choice, that choice, which choice?

Prefixes

The part that comes after the ko-so-a-do prefixes is what determines the type of the pronoun. The ko-so-a-do prefixes themselves stay the same, having more or less the same meaning regardless of the rest of the word. Their meanings refer to:

• ko こ prefix
  This.
  Something close to the speaker.
• so そ prefix
  That.
  Something close to the listener.
• a あ prefix
  That.
  Something far from both, but that can be seen or understood.
• do ど prefix
  What?
  Something the speaker doesn't see or know about.

ko こ

The kosoado words starting with ko こ are: kore, kono, koko, kou, konna, koitsu, konata, kochira, kocchi これ, この, ここ, こう, こんな, こいつ, こなた, こちら, こっち.

They're about the speaker, that is, the guy who's speaking, talking at the moment.

Many of those words are often translated as "this," or "this X," or "here," and so on. They refer to something the speaker is holding right now, on his close surroundings, on his side, or something he has done or mentioned recently.

Some examples:

• kore wa omoshiroi!
  これは面白い！
  This thing is interesting!
  This is interesting!
• kono keeki ga oishii
  このケーキが美味しい
  This cake is delicious.
• koko wa watashi no ie desu
  ここは私の家です
  Here is my house.
• naze kou natte-shimatta!?
  なぜこうなってしまった！？
  Why did [it] end up this manner!?
• konna omoshiroi manga ga aru nante, shiranakatta
  こんな面白い漫画があるなんて、知らなかった
  That a manga interesting such as this existed, [I] didn't know!
• koitsu wa odoroita!
  こいつは驚いた！
  This one was surprising!
  [I] was surprised by this one!
• kochira e douzo
  こちらへどうぞ
  [Come] toward this direction.
  [Come] here.

so そ

The kosoado words starting with so そ are: sore, sono, soko, sou, sonna, soitsu, sonata, sochira, socchi それ, その, そこ, そう, そんな, そいつ, そなた, そちら, そっち.

They are all about the listener, that is, the guy whom the speaker is speaking to.

Many of those words are often translated as "that," "that X," or "there." They usually refer to something which the listener is holding, something close to him, the physical space surrounding him, his side, his direction, something he has done or mentioned recently, and so on, although exceptions exist.

Some examples:

• sore wa nani?
  それは何？
  That thing is what?
  What is that? (in your hand?)
• sono tame ni nandemo shimasu
  そのために何でもします
  For that purpose, [I'll] do anything.
• soko wa heiki ka?
  そこは平気か？
  Is everything alright there? (where you are?)
• watashi mo sou omou
  私もそう思う
  I, too, think in that manner.
  I agree with what you said.
• sonna ni muzukashii desu ka?
  そんなに難しいですか？
  Is it that much difficult?
  Is it as difficult as you said?
• soitsu wa ningen da
  そいつは人間だ
  That one is human.
  That guy is human.
• sochira wa dou desu ka?
  そちらはどうですか？
  How are things there? (where you are?)

a あ

The kosoado words starting with a あ are: are, ano, asoko, aa, anna, aitsu, anata, achira, acchi あれ, あの, あそこ, ああ, あんな, あいつ, あなた, あちら, あっち. The aa ああ is a bit of an odd one, but you get used to it.

They're a little tricky, as they refer to things that are far from both speaker and listener.

These words are also often translated as "that," "that X" and "over there" because English doesn't have a third demonstrative pronoun specific for this situation.

In English, "this" is about the speaker and "that" is about the rest. In Japanese, ko こ and so そ are about the speaker and listener respectively, and a あ is about the rest.

Some examples:

• are wa akuma ka?
  あれは悪魔か？
  Is that thing (over there, far from us) a demon?
• ano ken wa dou narimashita ka?
  あの件はどうなりましたか？
  What became of that matter? (that neither of us were talking about?)
• asoko wa tashika ni kowai
  あそこは確かに怖い
  There is indeed scary. (not where I am or where you are, some other place.)
• minna aa desu ka?
  みんなああですか？
  Is everyone that way? (not the way I am or I assume you are, that way.)
• anna yatsu ni makenai yo!
  あんなヤツに負けないよ！
  [I] won't lose to a guy like that! (not a guy like me, or like you, like them.)
• aitsu wa ii yatsu da
  あいつはいいやつだ
  [He's] a good guy. (not me, or you, a third person.)
• achira wa watashi no tomodachi desu
  あちらは私の友達です
  In that direction are my friends.

do ど

The kosoado words starting with do あ are: dore, dono, doko, dou, donna, doitsu, donata, dochira, docchi どれ, どの, どこ, どう, どんな, どいつ, どなた, どちら, どっち.

They are interrogative pronouns, used to refer to stuff you can't demonstrate, that is, things you don't know about, or things you can't specify exactly.

These words are translated as "what," "what X," "which," "where," and so on. Their most common use is in asking questions about things, however, they can also be used to say "whatever," "whichever, "wherever" when used together with certain particles to talk about any thing or everything at once, without specifying any one exactly.

Some examples:

• dore ga hoshii?
  どれが欲しい？
  What thing is wanted?
  Which one do [you] want?
• dono manga ga suki desu ka?
  どの漫画が好きですか？
  Which manga do you like?
• okaasan wa doko desu ka?
  お母さんはどこですか
  [Your] mother is where?
  Where's your mother?
• dou yatte katsu?
  どうやって勝つ？
  How do to win?
  What do [you] have to do in order to win?
• donna shokugyou ga aru no ka?
  どんな職業があるのか？
  What kind of jobs are there?
• doitsu?
  どいつ？
  Which?
  Who?
• neko to inu, docchi ga suki desu ka?
  猫と犬、どっちが好きですか？
  Cats and dogs, which one is liked?
  Which one do [you] like? Cats or dogs?

Questions

There's a few things to note about how questions work with these pronouns.

As a rule of thumb, any question made with a do ど pronoun can be answered with a ko-so-a こそあ pronoun of the same set, and vice-versa is also true.

This means that if you can have phrases like these:

• kore kurai
  これくらい
  This much.
• kore dake
  これだけ
  This little.

Naturally you can also have phrases like these:

• dore kurai?
  どれくらい？
  What much?
  How much? (it takes or costs.)
• dore dake?
  どれだけ？
  What little?
  How little? (what's the minimum necessary?)

A second rule of thumb is that interrogative pronouns aren't marked by the wa は particle, only by the ga が particle, because interrogatives aren't part of the presupposition and as such can't be the topic of a sentence, they can only be the focus.

• *doko wa itai?
  どこは痛い？
  (wrong.)
• itai no wa doko?
  痛いのはどこ？
  The [spot] [where] {is painful} is where?
  The [place] [that] {is hurting} is where?
• doko ga itai?
  どこが痛い？
  Where is painful?
  Where is hurting?

The first example above is wrong, because you can't say doko wa. In the second example, we switch the topic and focus around. Then it's alright because doko is focus, but the sentence becomes backwards. In the third example, we use the focus-marker ga が instead, which is the preferred way.

Do... demo ii

Another interesting note about the kosoado words is that, no matter what kind of pronoun, the structure do...demo ii always has the same meaning. Look:

• dore demo ii
  どれでもいい
  It doesn't matter what.
• docchi demo ii
  どっちでもいい
  It doesn't matter which.
• dou demo ii
  どうでもいい
  It doesn't matter how.
• doko demo ii
  どこでもいい
  It doesn't matter where.

This structure can also be used with other interrogative pronouns too.

• dare demo ii
  誰でもいい
  It doesn't matter who.
• itsu demo ii
  いつでもいい
  It doesn't matter when.

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