ここ, そこ, and あそこ
“What you hear, you forget; what you see, you remember; what you do, you understand.” – T. Harv Eker
I hinted to you that ここ, そこ, and あそこ have something to do with location. “What kinds of location?” you ask. Well, I’m glad you’re asking such good questions. These locations refer to ここ (here, where the speaker is), そこ (there, where the person being spoken to is), and あそこ (over there, a place where neither the speaker or the person being spoken to is). It’s a lot like the これ’s, except now it’s an area or location, not a thing. Here’s a summary:
aここ → Here
aそこ → There
aあそこ → Over There
Really, it’s exactly like これ, それ, and あれ for locations. We actually do it differently in English. For example:
aここ は 日本 です。
This is Japan (Here is Japan)
aあそこ は アメリカ です。
That over there is America (Over there is America)
aそこ は オフィス です。
That is the office (There is the office)
See the difference? In English, we still say “this, that, and that over there” for our locations. In Japanese, there’s special words for the “this” that means “here” (and the other ones as well). So, one of the more difficult things is to separate the location “this” and the regular “this” in your mind. If you can do that, ここ, そこ, and あそこ will be easy-peasy for you.