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- "あそこにあります。"
"あそこにあります。"
Translation:It is over there.
75 Comments
123
Whenever they write "over here" i always read "over there" because it's so much more common.
620
Two different contexts:
-
When talking about a place that physically exists in the vicinity of the speaker and listener, そこ means a place that is near to the listener and far from the speaker. あそこ means a place that is far from both the speaker and the listener.
-
When talking about a place that is not physically in the vicinity, そこ means a place that has been discussed in the previous conversation. あそこ means a place that is known by both the speaker and the listener, but has not been discussed in the previous conversation.
"Yonder" can also refer to a place that is not physically present to the speaker or listener such as in the sentence, "Iyeh waynnt down yonder yesturday but daye wuz dawg toot'n outta paynut budder crispies," but keep in mind though, that in this case yonder would be spelled with the more informal, "yawndar" spelling.
On the contrary, when referring to future tense, the original spelling remains such as in, "we're fixing to head down yonder 'round come noon o'clawk", still describing a place not physically present.
Trolliverse
620
です is short of であります (no は)
And so あそこであります and あそこにあります mean the same thing.
To translate exactly in English, あそこであります is "[The answer is] over there." あそこにあります is "[It] exists over there." The two answers are literally different but means the same thing as an answer to the question どこにありますか.
620
あそこです (It is over there) and あそこにあります (There is it over there, or it exists over there) are both used frequently.
371
I'm overcomplicating things here, but uhm... Think of arimasu as "exists" and desu as "the same thing as". "It exists over there" or "it is the same thing as over there"
208
Here is a flashcard set I made for these and more learned during this lesson: https://www.cram.com/flashcards/japanese-ko-so-a-do-11471229
620
By the way I have never seen あそこ written as 彼処. Also あります is not written in kanji. Even あります is written in kanji, it is <在> instead of <有>, where <在> means that something is at a place, and <有> means that something exists.
I think of it like:
これ. -> Kore -> core -> ones "core" = abs in workout lingo. So is Close to my Core. Or core values, close to my Core.
それ -> Sore ->(as if talking to the other person): "So you...."
or "sorry..." (again, something one might say TO another person).
so, それ "sore" is referencing (something near) the person you're talking to.
あれ- afar - "oh so far away.." ( from us both),or "afar"
"over" there, over and away,
Out of reach (for either of us).
(These references all start with a vowel, and imply distance - from everyone in the conversation). Not nearby, considering everyone involved as a single unit.
これ Cool, THIS Really awesome thing ..
ここ HERE near me.
(core HERE by my core)
THIS これ Cool REd thing is ここ HERE by my CoConut Core.
("Sometimes I feel like a nut, Mounds don't"
- Referencing Almond Joy/Mounds coconut candy bar commercials.
I Am the candy bar.
)
それ So, THAT Really awesome thing ..
そこ So near you THERE, at your loCation.
それ Sorry (sore) THAT thing (SO REally) ..
そこ THERE, So CLOse to you ...
あれ THAT Always ( "always" -> "are") out of reach object ..
あそこ as far as I know (asoko),
[ is] Way OVER THERE
A So loCo - (a so co = asoko ), far away place.
あれ THAT out of reach thing ...
あそこ way OVER THERE, (so crazy) far away.
Similarly:
ここ : koko -> core -> near me -> this (これ) thing HERE near me
or THIS Core (like a battery core, or iron core) near my Core (me) -> this apple COre is near my COre -> aka it's HERE = koko = ここ
そこ : soko : THERE is so close to you (So ClOse = So Ko = soko = そこ).
Or, knowing starting with そ.. is going to be in relation to where the other person is (cuz それ, そこ), and knowing the ending
(..こ) is referencing the place/location pronoun
(THIS/THAT/THAT Over There),
It's kind of a natural progression equating
それ THAT (object near person your training to) and
そこ THERE (location near the person your taking to) -> THAT (battery) loCaTion (ca->co->ko)
or "su" (your in Spanish) "loco" (location, as in locomotion) -> su co -> so ko -> soko: そこ: THERE.
Again expanding from above:
( knowing れ ending is REferencing an object THIS one / THAT one) , and
こ ending is loCAcation, or loCOmotion to arrive at a place, HERE /THERE)
あれ... (THAT far away object...)
あそこ (...way over THERE)
あ..... are both referencing something far away from both speakers.
.....そこ is THERE, that (location/place)
あぞこ is (way/over there/afar/away from us/at over) THERE, that (location/place) WAy OVER THERE.
Similar to
あれ.
(sorry JoshuaLore8, didn't mean to reply directly to you. I Meant to reply to OP.
Your explanation is GREAT.
I just wanted to add some other tricks I employed when FIRST leaning the words - including how they sound, how they are they similar AND how they are different.
Now that I know them, shortcuts like you gave is sufficient to keep them all straight. )
Don't try using all these memory aids together.
Instead, pick one for
- Each Word,
and/or
- Proximity Group (near me, near you, far from both/all of us)
and/or
- Pronoun Group (this/that/ that over there) VS (here/there/over there)
... Either a mnemonic, sentence, or idea...
that makes sense to you, or is easy to remember.
Whatever help you differentiate 2 that you get confused, or a way to tell remember similar items.
Ignore the rest.
Taken all together, the aids are all over the place. Pick and choose a coherent group catered to your own mind patterns.
I wrote "there is over there" i.e. Is there any pasta? 'There is over there.'
It seems (as a native speaker), in English to be interchangeable in context. It also feels like a more faithful, if somewhat uncommon, translation of the exact words used. Is that wrong? Or is Duolingo just being pedantic?
356
I guess it gets marked, because that sentence is missing a subject for the English translation and we're translating a formal Japanese one here. Sure, you can omit the subjects in for example imperatives ('[You] Go over there!') and exclamations ('Hey, [you've got a] cute cat!') in English, but we have a statement here and it's in formal speech.
"They are over there" should also work and doesn't rely as heavily on context (just whether it's about singular or plural).
Just my thoughts though, I'm neither an expert nor English native!
123
You're right, "there is over there" is not grammatically correct English. But duo didn't accept "They're there" either, which i think should be accepted.
331
yes, i'm not satisfied with duo rejecting this tidy translation, too
"it is over there" fits in あそこです better, although i understand they mean the same
620
I think the thing that exists over there is not restricted to a place, but can also be an object. So without context we should not guess that it is a place, because we have a better and more natural choice for this translation: "it."
620
I believe I reveived a message few days ago that this is now accepted finally, although I reported this months ago.
832
This makes sense! The こ words are close to both the speaker and the listener(here,ここ), the そ words are close to the speaker and far from the listener(there,そこ), the あ(over there,あそこ) words are far from both and the ど words are the equivalent of a interrogative or demonstrative pronoun (in this case where,どこ). Is this correct?
Close, but not quite.
- こ is for words close to the speaker; it doesn't matter where the listener is.
- そ is for words close to the listener; by necessity, this also means words far from the speaker, because it would be こ otherwise.
- あ is for words far from both speaker and listener
- ど is for interrogative words, not demonstratives (that's what こ,そ, and あ do)
388
Would "it is in there" be correct? Because ni is either "at" or "in", and soko is "the place over there". In the place over there should be good as well, am i wrong?
620
Most probably no. For most situation of "it is in there" (something hidden in another), we would say あそこに入っています.
620
あそこ is one word and means a place that is far away from both the listener and the speaker, compared to そこ where the place is near to the listener. Please check my other post in this thread about this.
620
The problem is that the question has already been asked several times. People should not pollute the thread by repeated questions. They should check if the question has been asked before posting a new one.