Japanese Learning: Sentence expressing what this place is; “[Koko] wa [Name of a Place] desu.”; Introduction of yet another ko-so-a words’ group.

Let’s learn how to say “This place is what.”, “That place is what”, and “Over there is what”. We use a noun predicate sentence in terms of the sentence construction. We need to know some nouns that describe places like classroom, railway station, dining room, and so on. And we also need to another ko-so-a words’ group that are pronouns for places/locations.

1. [Pronouns for places/locations] wa [Name of a Place] desu.

Pronouns for places/locations;

– koko : here, this place

– soko : (1) When the speaker and the listener are close and sharing a limited place, “soko” is a place a little distant from the two.

(2) When there is a distance between the speaker and the listener, and the speaker calls the place of the listener “soko”, the speaker would say “koko”.

– asoko : the place over there

– wa : a particle functions as topic marker, and subject marker in these cases

Name of a Place;

Remember some nouns that describe places;

– kyoushitsu : a classroom/classrooms

– eki : railway station

– shokudou : dining room

– desu : polite ending for sentence of present-positive

Practice and remember the following sentences;

– Koko wa kyoushitsu desu. (This place is a classroom.)

– Soko wa eki desu. (That place is a railway station.)

– Asoko wa shokudou desu. (The place over there is a dining room.)