85. and 86. "This" and "that"

The word for "this" is これ (kore). It is used to indicate something close to the speaker.

「これは何ですか？」 (kore wa nandesu ka?) - "What is this?"

「これは魚です」 (kore wa sakana desu) - "This is a fish."

However, there are two words for "that". The first is それ (sore) and indicates something close to the person you are talking to. The second refers to something close to neither person, and it is あれ (are).

「これは鯨ですか？」 (kore wa kujira desu ka?) - "Is this a whale?"

「それは鯨じゃない。」 (sore wa kujira janai) - "That is not a whale."

「あれは鯨です。」 (are wa kujira desu) - "That over there is a whale."

Those are some examples of これ, それ, and あれ, but you probably wouldn't hear a conversation exactly like this. For example, the second line might just be 「鯨じゃない」 and the final line might use the が particle instead of the は particle. However, I'm not really sure, I'll leave all that for another day.

Anyway, the three words covered here are probably what you would use when pointing to things. If you want to talk about "this dog" or "that cat" or something more specific however, you would use この (kono), その (sono), and あの (ano).

To put it another way, これ is used like a noun, この is used like an adjective.

「この鳥は赤いです」 (kono tori wa akai desu) - "This bird is red."

「そのとりは青いです」 (sono tori wa aoi desu) - "That bird is blue." (Also sometimes translated as "The bird is blue.")

「あの鳥は緑です」 (ano tori wa midori desu) - "That bird over there is green."

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