{"id":27469,"date":"2020-08-19T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T15:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/?p=27469"},"modified":"2025-01-06T13:44:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T04:44:28","slug":"kore-sore-and-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/blog\/kore-sore-and-are\/","title":{"rendered":"This and That: Understanding the Difference Between Kore, Sore and Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kore<\/i>, sore<\/i> and are<\/i> are some of the first pronouns you\u2019ll learn as a beginner Japanese language student and at first, they seem fairly straightforward. But, the difference between kore, sore and are is often a point of confusion, especially when you throw in kono<\/i>, sono<\/i> and ano<\/i> into the mix.<\/p>\n

Read on to get your head around the difference between kore, sore and are.<\/p>\n

Grammar Points<\/b><\/h2>\n

Kore, sore and are are the equivalent to \u201cthis\u201d and \u201cthat\u201d in English. How you use them depends on how close or far the thing is that you are referring to. This is an important concept in understanding the difference between kore, sore and are.<\/p>\n

Kore<\/strong> is used for things near the<\/b> speaker<\/b>.<\/p>\n

E.g. Kore wa hon desu.
<\/i>\u3053\u308c \u306f \u672c\u3067\u3059\u3002
This is a book.<\/p>\n

Kore wa ikura desuka?
<\/i>\u3053\u308c \u306f \u3044\u304f\u3089 \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
How much is this?<\/p>\n

Sore<\/strong> is used for things near the listener<\/b>.<\/p>\n

E.g. Sore wa hon desu.
<\/i>\u305d\u308c \u306f \u672c \u3067\u3059\u3002
That is a book.<\/p>\n

Sore wa nan desuka?
<\/i>\u305d\u308c \u306f \u306a\u3093 \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
What is that (by you)?<\/p>\n

Are<\/strong> is used for things far away from both the speaker and the listener<\/b>.<\/p>\n

E.g. Are wa hon desuka?
<\/i>\u3042\u308c \u306f \u672c \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
Is that (over there) a book?<\/p>\n

Are wa nan desuka?
<\/i>\u3042\u308c \u306f \u306a\u3093 \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
What is that (over there)?<\/p>\n

\"Kore,<\/p>\n

Kono, Sono and Ano<\/b><\/h2>\n

Things start getting a little tricky when you add in kono, sono and ano, which mean the same as kore, sore and are. So how do you know whether to use kore or kono?<\/p>\n

The primary difference is that kono, sono and ano are adjectives<\/strong> and must be followed by a noun<\/b>. In comparison, remember that kore, sore and are are pronouns, meaning they can be used instead of a noun, and therefore can stand alone.<\/p>\n

Kono hon wa watashi no desu.
<\/i>\u3053\u306e \u672c \u306f \u79c1 \u306e \u3067\u3059\u3002
This book is mine.<\/p>\n

Kono shougakusei.
<\/i>\u3053\u306e \u5c0f\u5b66\u751f\u3002
This primary school student.<\/p>\n

Sono hon wa ikura desuka?
<\/i>\u305d\u306e \u672c \u306f \u3044\u304f\u3089 \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
How much is that book?<\/p>\n

Sono hon ga daisuki desu.
<\/i>\u305d\u306e \u672c \u304c \u5927\u597d\u304d \u3067\u3059\u3002
I love that book.<\/p>\n

Ano hon no shomei wa nan desuka?
<\/i>\u3042\u306e \u672c \u306e \u66f8\u540d \u306f \u306a\u3093 \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
What is the title of that book (over there)?<\/p>\n

Ano hito wa Natsuki-san desuka?
<\/i>\u3042\u306e \u4eba \u306f \u306a\u3064\u304d\u3055\u3093 \u3067\u3059\u304b\uff1f
Is that person (over there) Natsuki-san?<\/p>\n

It might take some getting used to, but it will get easier to make the distinction the more you study. As you get more advanced in your Japanese, you will get a better feel for when to use certain words and you\u2019ll know instinctively when to use kore\/sore\/are and when to use kono\/sono\/ano.<\/p>\n

Want to learn Japanese but can\u2019t get to Japan just yet? We offer an online beginner Japanese course<\/strong>, put together and taught by Akamonkai Japanese Language School. Read more about the course here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more articles about Japanese language, check out our blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kore, sore and are are some of the first pronouns you\u2019ll learn as a beginner Japanese language student and at first, they seem fairly straightforward. But, the difference between kore, sore and are is often a point of confusion, especially when you throw in kono, sono and ano into the mix. Read on to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":27489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[404],"tags":[666,680],"class_list":["post-27469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-japanese","tag-language","tag-study-in-japan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}