Telling こ, そ and あ Apart in Japanese

Telling こ, そ and あ apart in Japanese
We hope this is useful to you as a learner of Japanese.

🍑 1. この/その/あの＋N (a noun)

This hardly needs saying: この/その/あの＋N points to a definite thing being spoken about, where:

この: something near the speaker
その: something far from the speaker and near the listener
あの: something far from both the speaker and the listener

2. こんな/そんな/あんな + N

Here こんな/そんな/あんな act as adjectives

Compare:
🍀 この+N speaks of one particular, definite N, meaning “this one”
🍀 こんな+N speaks of a whole group of the same kind as N, meaning “this sort, this kind”

Example:
❤️ このかばんが好きです。I like this bag (one particular, definite thing)

❤️ こんなかばんが好きです。 I like bags like this (the same shape, the same design…)

🍓 そんな and あんな work in the same way, pointing to “a group of which N is a representative example”

The difference between この/その/あの is plain enough, but some people are still unsure about こんな/そんな/あんな, because their meaning is in fact wider:

☀️ こんな: the thing spoken of is near the speaker, or comes from the speaker; translated “LIKE THIS”

こんなひどい物を捨ててください Throw away awful things like this (you might say this on going into your child's room and finding it full of awful things)

こんなことが起きるなんて信じられない: I can't believe things like this happen

☀️ そんな: the thing spoken of is near the other person, or comes from the other person speaking to you; translated “LIKE THAT”

🍀 そんなことがありませんよ “It's nothing of the sort”. This is often used when someone pays you a compliment and you answer modestly. If you are praised with 日本語が上手ですね, you answer そんなことがありませんよ; the そんなこと here is the matter of your Japanese being good, and since the remark started with the other person you use そんな.

🍀 彼女はもう結婚した。知っていた？ She's married now. Did you know?
いいえ、そんなことは知りませんでした。No, I didn't know that

🍀そんなこと言わないで Don't say things like that

❤️ あんな: the thing spoken of is far from both listener and speaker (far in distance and also in time – things in the past)

あんな家に住みたくない？Wouldn't you like to live in a house like that?

あんなことはもう忘れてください Things like that (they are in the past now) are best forgotten

With some sentences you know at once whether to pick こんな/そんな or あんな; with others you can only tell from the context.

We hope this post helps you understand こ。そ。あ。 better.💕

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Thanks to the Tiếng nhật online MoMo fanpage for sharing.
Good luck with your studies and your exam.