Beginner students of Japanese often struggle with the three words used as relative pronouns in Japanese, \u3053\u308c (kore, this), \u305d\u308c (sore, that) and \u3042\u308c (are, that over there). The reason it’s difficult, of course, is that English only really has two: this, and that, so the difference between \u305d\u308c (meaning, something closer to the listener than the speaker) and \u3042\u308c (something not close to either the listener or the speaker) can be quite difficult to grasp.<\/p>\n
Along the same lines, a student in our Japanese for Exams course had some questions about the other forms of these words, \u3053\u3046 (kou, this way\/like this), \u305d\u3046 (sou, that way\/like that), and \u3042\u3042 (aa, the other way), and \u3053\u3093\u306a (konna, this kind), \u305d\u3093\u306a (sonna, that kind), and \u3042\u3093\u306a (anna, the other kind). In the interests of furthering the knowledge of the world at large (or at least, that small portion of it that reads this blog), here is an explanation of the difference.<\/p>\n
So, to the questions. These questions are taken from study materials for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, level 3. We’ll leave the answers till later, to give you the chance to figure them out for yourself:
\uff11\uff09\uff21\uff1a\u300c\u3044\u3044\u5929\u6c17\u3067\u3059\u306d\u3002\u300d
\uff22\uff1a\u300c\u3048\u3048\u3002\uff3f\uff3f\u65e5\u306f\u5916\u3067\u6563\u6b69\u3067\u3082\u3057\u305f\u304f\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u306d\u3002\u300d
\uff11\uff0e\u3053\u3046\u3000\uff12\uff0e\u3053\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff13\uff0e\u305d\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff14\uff0e\u3042\u3093\u306a<\/p>\n
\uff12\uff09\uff21\uff1a\u300c\uff22\u3055\u3093\u306f\u5b57\u304c\u304d\u308c\u3044\u3067\u3059\u306d\u3002\u300d
\uff22\uff1a\u300c\uff3f\uff3f\u3053\u3068\u306a\u3044\u3067\u3059\u3088\u3002\u300d
\uff11\uff0e\u3053\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff12\uff0e\u3042\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff13\uff0e\u305d\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff14\uff0e\u305d\u3046<\/p>\n
\uff13\uff09\uff3f\uff3f\u6c5a\u3044\u3068\u3053\u308d\u3078\u884c\u304d\u305f\u304f\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002
\uff11\uff0e\u3042\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff12\uff0e\u3053\u3046\u3000\uff13\uff0e\u3069\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff14\uff0e\u3042\u3042<\/p>\n
\uff14\uff09\u306b\u3093\u3058\u3093\u306f\uff3f\uff3f\u5207\u3063\u3066\u4e0b\u3055\u3044\u3002
\uff11\uff0e\u3053\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff12\uff0e\u3042\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff13\uff0e\u3069\u3046\u3000\uff14\uff0e\u3053\u3046<\/p>\n
\uff15\uff09\u9234\u6728\u3055\u3093\u306f\u30b9\u30ad\u30fc\u304c\u3058\u3087\u3046\u305a\u3067\u3059\u304c\u3001\uff3f\uff3f\u306f\u898b\u3048\u307e\u305b\u3093\u3002
\uff11\uff0e\u3042\u3042\u3000\uff12\uff0e\u3069\u3046\u3000\uff13\uff0e\u305d\u3046\u3000\uff14\uff0e\u3053\u3046<\/p>\n
\uff16\uff09\uff21\uff1a\u300c\u4f50\u85e4\u3055\u3093\uff48\u3042\uff3f\uff3f\u898b\u3048\u3066\u3082\u3001\u5b50\u4f9b\u304c\u3044\u308b\u3093\u3067\u3059\u3088\u3002\u300d
\uff22\uff1a\u300c\u305d\u3046\u306a\u3093\u3067\u3059\u304b\u3002\u82e5\u304f\u898b\u3048\u307e\u3059\u3051\u3069\u306d\u3002\u300d
\uff11\uff0e\u305d\u3046\u3000\uff12\uff0e\u3042\u3093\u306a\u3000\uff13\uff0e\u3042\u3042\u3000\uff14\uff0e\u3069\u3046
The answers:
1) 2.
Both of the speakers are experiencing the same day, right now, so the answer is \u3053\u3093\u306a, this kind of day. If they were talking about a day in the past that both of them had experienced, they would use \u3042\u3093\u306a. The speaker could only use \u305d\u3093\u306a if he had not experienced that day himself.<\/p>\n
2) 3.
In this case, \u305d\u3093\u306a means “that thing that you said”.<\/p>\n
3) 1.
\u305d\u3093\u306a and \u3053\u3093\u306a are not given as options because they could also be correct. However, all of the other answers don’t fit grammatically. \u3053\u3046 and \u3042\u3042 go only with verbs, while \u3069\u3093\u306a is for questions only.<\/p>\n
4) 4.
To say the way to do something, we use \u3053\u3046, \u305d\u3046 or \u3042\u3042, and in this sentence any of these alternatives could be correct.<\/p>\n
5) 3.
This is a special use of the word \u305d\u3046. In this case, it doesn’t mean “in the way the listener described”, but rather is almost exactly the same as the word “that”, to act as a pronoun for the thing that was just mentioned. So in this case, \u305d\u3046 means \u300c\u30b9\u30ad\u30fc\u304c\u4e0a\u624b\u300d\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3053\u3068. Don’t be confused by the fact that it sounds just like the regular word \u305d\u3046, and remember that it is used to summarize the part before.
This is probably the most difficult of the questions here. Just in case, here’s another example:
\u3082\u3046\u4e00\u5207\u308c\u98df\u3079\u3066\u3082\u3044\u3044\u3051\u3069\u3001\u305d\u3046\u3059\u308c\u3070\u6c17\u6301\u3061\u60aa\u304f\u306a\u308b\u304b\u3082\u3002
I could eat another slice, but if I do that I’d probably feel sick.
So, just as in English we wouldn’t say “if I do this”, in Japanese you wouldn’t say \u3053\u3046\u3059\u308c\u3070.<\/p>\n
6) 3.
Satou-san is not in the room with the two speakesr, so they must use \u3042\u3042 to refer to her – “not me, not you, but another person”.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
| Beginner students of Japanese often struggle with the three words used as relative pronouns in Japanese, \u3053\u308c (kore, this), \u305d\u308c (sore, that) and \u3042\u308c (are, that over there). The reason it’s difficult, of course, is that English only really has two: this, and that, so the difference between \u305d\u308c (meaning, something closer to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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