# dono and doo



## Huda

Please help me

what do these question words mean exactly in English?
dono & doo

thanks in advance


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## Flaminius

Hi, *Huda*.

Welcome to the WR Japanese forum!

I would definitely like to see these two words in context as they have so many functions that an exact translation into another language will be a dictionary-like definition in that language.

Simply put (really simply, with many logical holes), _dono_ is "which" (attributive interrogative adjective) and _dō_ is "how" (interrogative adverb) and a predicative interrogative adjective.

If you have questions about details that you may find in their definitions in dictionary, I suggest you should bring here the sentences in which the words are used and you have doubt with.

Regards,
Flam


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## Huda

Flaminius said:


> Hi, *Huda*.
> 
> Welcome to the WR Japanese forum!
> 
> I would definitely like to see these two words in context as they have so many functions that an exact translation into another language will be a dictionary-like definition in that language.
> 
> Simply put (really simply, with many logical holes), _dono_ is "which" (attributive interrogative adjective) and _dō_ is "how" (interrogative adverb) and a predicative interrogative adjective.
> 
> If you have questions about details that you may find in their definitions in dictionary, I suggest you should bring here the sentences in which the words are used and you have doubt with.
> 
> Regards,
> Flam


please tell me what do you mean by "attributive interrogative adjective". I read in a English semantics book that Japanese has one of the more perect deictic systems. The central part of the system includes the following demonstrative expressions. I will not be able to draw the table drawn in the book here.
they said if you found out that doko means where, what could you guess the meaning for dochira?
I guess the meaning for dochira is "which direction", because it is written that kochira, sochira, are pronouns that indicate direction, this way, your way respectively. 
Now I need your help in finding the meaning of "dono" and "doo".


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## Flaminius

[Please quote only specific portions that you have responses/questions with.  Quoting an entire post just to show you are responding to it tends to clutter the thread.]

*Huda*,
By "attributive interrogative adjective" I meant "which" as in:
(Presenting three pens) Which pen do you like best, the red one, the green one or the blue one?
A Japanese equivalent sentence starts with: dono pen

I wanted to say that _dono_ is not used independent from a noun, i.e., as the _Wh_-expression to enquire an adjective.  Come to think of it, English does not use _which_ in this case either.  It uses _how_.
How is your brother?
He is fine.
In order to get a "He is fine" response in Japanese, you have to make an interrogative sentence with _doo_.



> I guess the meaning for dochira is "which direction", because it is  written that kochira, sochira, are pronouns that indicate direction,  this way, your way respectively.


Yes, you are right.



> Now I need your help in finding the meaning of "dono" and "doo".


I think you already have the answers but you seem to need other words belonging to the same class.  So here they are:
deictic attributive adjectives: (belonging or related to) speaker, listener, neither, unknown;
kono, sono, ano, dono

deictic adverbs: speaker, listener, neither, unknown;
kō, sō, ā, dō


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## Huda

> By "attributive interrogative adjective" I meant "which" as in:
> (Presenting three pens) Which pen do you like best, the red one, the green one or the blue one?
> A Japanese equivalent sentence starts with: dono pen


I still can't understand the differece between dono and dochira. I'm sorry Flamius.


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## Flaminius

If _dono_ is the adjective _which_, then _dochira_ is the pronoun _which_.
Comp:
Dono pen-ga hoshii? [Which pen do you like?]
Dore-ga hoshii? [Which (object) do you like?]

Apparently "which direction" is too vague a translation for _dochira_ with a lot of derived meanings but that's likely the answer you get when you ask the meaning without context.

I concentrated on the difference with _dono_ as I don't want to write a dictionary definition of the word.


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## Huda

*T*hanks a million Flam for your helpful answer.


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## Flaminius

Ops, wait, *Huda*.  There is one thing I want to correct in my last post.


> If _dono_ is the adjective _which_, then _dochira_ is the pronoun _which_.
> Comp:
> Dono pen-ga hoshii? [Which pen do you like?]
> Dore-ga hoshii? [Which (object) do you like?]


This explanation is true but I was supposed to explain _dochira_, not _dore_.  Now, _dochira_ can be used in the second sentence instead of _dore _without changing the overall meaning.  The difference is that _dochira_ belongs to the politer register (_Dochira-ga hoshii desu-ka?_ [I shall spear the discussion about politeness in Japanese]).

Etymologically, _dochira_ is perhaps "which direction" in its origin but it can be used as a politer variation of _dore_ as well as _doko_.  Politeness of _dochira_ is achieved by way of periphrasis in both cases.
E.g. (Both sentences mean "Where are you come from?"):
Doko-kara kita-no?
Dochira-kara kimashita-ka?

Note that the plain _kita_ ("came") is supplanted by the politer _kimashita_ in the sentence with _dochira_, which initiates a politer speech.

Now that _dochira_ has so many derived senses, the original sense "which direction/way" is expressed by _docchi_ is casual speeches.  (EDIT) This of course has rolled out to mean "which" (adjective) as well.


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## Huda

Flaminius said:


> Ops, wait, *Huda*.  There is one thing I want to correct in my last post.


Yes I wanted to tell you that you should have compared dono and dochira, but I refrained from saying so. 



> This explanation is true but I was supposed to explain _dochira_, not _dore_.  Now, _dochira_ can be used in the second sentence instead of _dore _without changing the overall meaning.  The difference is that _dochira_ belongs to the politer register (_Dochira-ga hoshii desu-ka?_ [I shall spear the discussion about politeness in Japanese]).


Thanks for letting me know this information. This question means "which pen do you prefer, but in a  politer way. right?


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## Flaminius

> This question means "which pen do you prefer, but in a  politer way. right?


In this context, yes.  But in general, no.  It means: "Which do you prefer?"


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