Japanese Conversation

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What is this? - this   that

Kore, Sore and Are"This & That"

There are three Japanese words for "this" and "that". Kore means "this". Sore and are mean "that".
The usage of kore, sore and are is as follows;

Koreindicates a thing or things near the speaker.
Soreindicates a thing or things near the listener.
Areindicates a thing or things far from both, speaker and listener.

Singulars and Plurals

With the exception of some words, Japanese nouns generally do not take a plural form. Kore can be "this" or "these", for instance, Kore wa hon desu can be "This is a book" or "These are books". Also Kore wa wain desu can be "This is a glass of wine" or "This is a bottle of wine".

Nan desu ka?

Nan is an interrogative word "what". "What is this?" is Kore wa nan desu ka?.

Chotto misete kudasai

Misemasu is a verb meaning "to show", and misete kudasai is a set phrase meaning "please show me" or "may I see it".

Chotto means "a little" or "just". This word is frequently added to the beginning of a sentence in order to soften one's statement such as a request.

No - Furansu no wain"French wine"

No is a particle and indicates an attribute or belonging. When a noun modifies another noun, no comes between them.

a.Nihon no wain
Japanese wine (i.e. wine from Japan)
b.Suzuki-san wa Nihongo no sensei desu.
Suzuki-san is a Japanese (language) teacher (i.e. a teacher of the Japanese language).
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