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Lesson 8: This person, That person, Who
In this lesson, I will teach you how to say “this person, that person, who” in Japanese.
How to say “this person, that person, who” in Japanese?
| Word | Explanation |
| こちら/この方/この人 | こちら/この方/この人 means 【this person】 → the person close to the speaker but far from the listener |
| そちら/その方/その人 | そちら/その方/その人： means 【that person】 → the person close to the listener but far from the speaker |
| あちら/あの方/あの人 | あちら/あの方/あの人： means 【that person】 → the person far from the listener and speaker. |
| どちらさま/どの方/どの人/誰 | どちらさま/どの方/どの人/誰： means 【who】 → The person you don’t know |
Examples:
| こちらは私のお客さんです。 This person is my guest. その方は私のお客さんです。 That person is my guest. あの人は私のお客さんです。 That person is my guest. この人は誰ですか。 Who’s this guy? どちらさまでしょうか。 May I ask your name? 誰ですか 。 Who are you? |
Notes:
| 1.こっち/そっち/あっち is an informal way to say こちら/そちら/あちら |
| 2.こちら/この方/そちら/その方/どちらさま/どの方 is more polite than この人/その人/あの人/誰，so you should use こちら/この方/そちら/その方/どちらさま/どの方 often. |
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15 thoughts on “Lesson 8: This person, That person, Who”
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Thanks!
Is there a “どっち” ? Or does the こっち/そっち/あっち pattern not apply to it?
Yes! どっち means Which/where
Also, for the politeness part, which is more polite than あの人?
そちら/その方 seems to correspond with その人 and どちらさま/どの方 with 誰 going by the lesson, so I’m guessing it should be あちら/あの方, is that correct?
Yes! you are right!
こちらは女です
こちらは車です
こちらは男です
こちらは女子です
こちらはゲムではないです
こっちは私のお母さんですno
そちらは私の家です< That's my house
そちらは私の家ではない< That's not my house
Oh wait, or do these どちら、こちら、あちら、only apply for people and not things?
both
Generally, we use “person”. So in Japanese, 方/人.
I would like to confirm: Is it still polite to say 男/女?
Ex. その男はどちらですか。
I forgot to include さま above.
–> その男はどちらさまですか。
Since I already have extra comment, I would like to add the confirmation of the following.
I am more used to using polite form (superior) because of our training in corporate setup. I don’t normally use casual form (friends) because I’m not quite knowlegable about it as well.
Is there no problem if polite form is used when talking to friends?
if he/she is your friend, it will sound too formal to use polite form.
* knowledgeable
If you want to be polite, you’d better use 方（かた）
その方はどなたでしょうか
So, the ones that end in “__ちら/__の方/__の人” all can be used interchangeably?
yes, but __ちら/__の方 is more polite than __の人