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In the previous lesson about ‘This’ and ‘That’ in Japanese, we concluded that the prefix:

• ‘ko-’ is used when ‘the object near to the speaker’,
• ‘so-’ is used when ‘the object near to the listener’, and
• ‘a-’ is used when ‘the object far away from both speaker and listener’.

 

The same patterns are applied for Japanese ‘Here’ and ‘There’ – ここ (koko), そこ (soko), あそこ (asoko), こちら (kochira), そちら (sochira), and あちら (achira). The main point of this lesson is:

• the suffix ‘-ko’ is used for indicating the location.

Structure: ここ/そこ/あそこ + は

• the suffix ‘–chira’ is used for direction, motion towards, or preference.

Structure: こちら/そちら/あちら + は

 

Note:

• in a casual way, こっち (kocchi), そっち (sochhi), and あっち (acchi) are used instead.
• the suffix ‘-chira’ can also be translated as ‘this’ and ‘that’.
• the suffix ‘-chira’ is more polite than ‘-ko’.

 

Examples:

ここは銀行です。

Koko wa ginkō desu.

This is a bank.

 

そこは教室です。

Soko wa kyōshitsu desu.

That is a classroom.

 

あそこは会議室ですか？

Asoko wa kaigishitsu desu ka?

Is there a meeting room over there?

 

 

こちらは松本さんです。

Kochira wa Matsumoto-san desu.

Here (this) is Mr. Matsumoto.

 

そちらは会社です。

Sochira wa kaisha desu.

There is the company.

 

あちらはコンビニです。

Achira wa konbini desu.

Over there is a convenience store.

 

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