Japanese Demonstratives

Japanese has a systematic paradigm for demonstratives.

It has a ko/so/a/do system that neatly represents the following:

• こ (ko) — near the speaker (“this, here”)
• そ (so) — near the listener (“that, there by you”)
• あ (a) — far from both the speaker and the listener (“that over there, over there”)
• ど (do) — the question form (“which? where?”)

These can be combined with various concepts, such as places, directions and things. This guide covers the topic wonderfully.