The Japanese Ko-So-A-Do System

Japanese has sets of words which are based on the physical distance between the speaker and the listener. They are called ko-so-a-do words because the first syllable is always either ko-, so-, a-, or do-. Ko-words refer to things nearer to the speaker, So-words to things nearer to the listener, A-words to things that are at distance from both the speaker and the listener, and Do-words are questions words. Please look at the picture above and see the following conversation among animals. The Ko-So-A-Do System Kuma: Kore wa oishii na.Risu: Honto, sore wa oishisou da ne.Nezumi: Ano kaki mo oishisou da yo.Tanuki: Dore ni shiyou kana. 㠁 Ã£  ¾: 㠁“ã‚Å'㠁 ¯Ã£ Å Ã£ â€žÃ£ â€"㠁„㠁 ªÃ£â‚¬â€šÃ£â€šÅ Ã£ â„¢: 㠁 »Ã£â€šâ€œÃ£  ¨Ã£â‚¬ Ã£  Ã£â€šÅ'㠁 ¯Ã£ Å Ã£ â€žÃ£ â€"㠁 Ã£ â€ Ã£   Ã£  ­Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ£  ­Ã£ Å¡Ã£  ¿: 㠁‚㠁 ®Ã£ â€¹Ã£  Ã£â€šâ€šÃ£ Å Ã£ â€žÃ£ â€"㠁 Ã£ â€ Ã£   Ã£â€šË†Ã£â‚¬â€šÃ£ Å¸Ã£  ¬Ã£  : 㠁 ©Ã£â€šÅ'㠁 «Ã£ â€"よ㠁†ã â€¹Ã£  ªÃ£â‚¬â€š (1) kono/sono/ano/dono [Noun] They cannot be used on their own. They have to be followed by the noun that they modify.   kono hon this book sono hon that book ano hon that book over there dono hon which book (2) kore/sore/are/dore They cannot be followed by a noun. They can be replaced with kono/sono/ano/dono [Noun] when the things indicated are obvious.   Kono hon o yomimashita. I read this book. Kore o yomimashita. I read this. (3) Ko-so-a-do Chart ko- so- a- do- thing kono + [Noun] sono + [Noun] ano + [Noun] dono + [Noun] kore sore are dore place koko soko asoko doko direction kochira sochira achira dochira The kochira group can be used as the polite equivalent of the kore or koko group. These expressions are often used by employees in the service industries. Click here to check out a lesson for shopping.​ Kore wa ikaga desu ka. How about this one? Kochira wa ikaga desu ka. How about this one? (more polite) Asoko de omachi kudasai. Please wait over there. Achira de omachi kudasai. Please wait over there. (more polite)