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I still don’t fully understand when この should be used instead of これは or indeed what exactly the difference between them is, and similarly when その and あの are used instead of それは and あのは respectively. I also forget when exactly we were first taught この etc so I can’t refer to the lesson for my answer. Some help would be great thanks.
Here’s the page which explains it, but like you I’m not fully up to speed with it.
http://www.textfugu.com/season-4/na-adj/1-5/#top
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This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by
Neil.
When talking about an abject, but not saying what it is, use これ. But, say you what to say “this pencil”, instead of “this”. You can’t say これえんぴつ. You change the れ to の. It becomes このえんぴつ. The same applies to それ/その and あれ/あの.
Thanks for that link Neil, I’d quite forgotten when I’d learned this (or not learned as was the case) and I think I understand now the basic difference:
これは is used when you only want to identify a noun/object as in これ は えんぴつ です。- This is a pencil.
この is used when you are describing that noun/object with an accompanying adjective この えんぴつ べんり です. – This is a convenient pencil.
In English これは and この both essentially mean ‘this’ but in Japanese they have a distinction depending on whether you’re describing the noun/object or not, a distinction that just isn’t there in English. I’m guessing a Japanese person would probably understand you if you said これ は えんぴつ べんり です it probably just sounds off to them. I think that’s the gist of it; if I’m wrong I’d sure like to know.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by
Mononoke.
Or, to explain the basic difference with fewer words: この comes before a noun. これ does not.
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This reply was modified 11 years, 6 months ago by
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