Here’s another set of super common words to help round out your vocabulary. They’re short and easy to understand too so see if you can pick them out of your favorite Japanese media.
The difference between “soko” and “asoko” is a lot like the difference between “sore” and “are”. When talking about a place far from you but close to your listener you use “soko”. When talking about a place far away from both of you you use “asoko”. That general guidline should get you through most situations until you start to pick up a real instinct for which word to use when.
Vocabulary
ここ = here
そこ = there
あそこ = way over there
どこ = where (question word)
Transcript
言語ガールズ #48
Co-dependence
Blue: Remember the words for “this” and “that”?
Yellow: Yeah. これ is “this”, それ is “that” and あれ is “that thing way over there”.
Blue: There are similar words for talking about places.
Blue: ここ means “here”, そこ means “there”, and あそこ means “way over there”.
Blue: There is also どこ, a question word which means “where”.
Yellow: That’s a lot of different words that all end in こ…
Yellow: But the only word I can focus on right now is “taco”.
Blue: That’s what you get for skipping lunch.