Japanese Demonstratives and Interrogatives

The demonstrative and interrogative words are either pronouns, adjectives or adverbs, and may be divided into four groups depending on the prefix:
ko Something near the speaker. so - Something nearer the listener than the speaker. a - Something at a distance from both speaker and listener. do Question

The following picture shows how to use the words for this and that; kore, sore and are. All other words also follow the same pattern. The pattern is described in the table below:
Near speaker What Near listener Far from both Question

kore this one

sore that one

are that one

dore which (of 3 or more)

Which

kono this [x]

sono that [x]

ano that [x] (over there)

dono which [x], what kind of [x]

Direction

kochira this way

sochira that way

achira that way

dochira which way

Type

konna this kind of

sonna that kind of

anna that kind of

donna which kind

Way/manner

kou in this manner

sou in that manner

aa in that manner

dou in which manner

Where

koko here

soko there

asoko over there

doko where

Talking About People

When talking about people, especially if they are present, it is considered rude to use the words kono, sono, ano and dono. For instance, one should avoid sentences like kono hito wa dare desu ka it is a rude way of saying to Who is this person. Instead one should use the polite versions kochira, sochira, achira and donata.
Example Introducing a Colleague

A: sochira wa donata desu ka? B: kochira wa Tanaka desu. A: Who is that person? B: This is Tanaka.

Exceptions to Using Polite Language About People

There are, however, also some occasions where it would be natural to use plain ko/so/a/do pronouns for people. For instance if the person you are speaking about cannot hear you, or when talking about your own children.
Example Referring to someone in a story

In this example, (B) has told (A) a funny story about someone. Japanese: English:
Example Looking at a photo A: Who do you refer to? B: He/she is P.

A BP

This example shows another valid occasion to use sore for a person. (A) and (B) are talking about a person, who is not present. In the following situation, (B) is holding a photo in his hand. Japanese: English:
A: Say, who is she? B: She is my younger sister.

A B

Example Talking about children

You can use the words kore/sore for your child, your students and your pets etc. But you cant use it for other peoples children and students, as it would be considered rude. For instance, if a colleague, who does not have children, comes with a child, it may be better to use polite Japanese such as donata no okosan desu ka?. In the following situation, at a kindergarten event, a nurse (A) finds an unknown child and asks another nurse (B) about this. The childs mother (C) comes into the conversation.

Japanese:

English:
A: Who is this child? B: Im not sure C: Sorry, he is my (our) child.

A B C

Example Pets

Sometimes dare is used for pets. For example, if you found a piece of cake was damaged on the table in the kitchen, and your cats are still in the room its obvious that one or more cat is the culprit, but you dont know who did it. So, you could ask them: Japanese: English:
Who ate that?

Other Interrogative Pronouns

Some other interrogative pronouns are the following:
dare donata dochirasama nan, nani nannin ikura ikutsu itsu doushite, naze douyatte, donoyouni donoyouna donokurai who who (polite) who (very polite) what how many people how much how many when why? how? which kind of? how long?