ここ・そこ・あそこ

## What it means ここ、そこ、あそこ mean "here," "there," and "over there." They point to a place instead of a thing, so you can talk about a location without naming it.

## When to use it **ここ** is the place near you, **そこ** is the place near the listener, and **あそこ** is a place far from both of you. They can be the topic or the location of a sentence: ここ は 駅 です ("This place is the station"), or {ここ}に猫がいます ("There's a cat here"). Mark them with は when they're the topic, or に/で when showing where something is, just like any other place word.

## Don't confuse it with Don't mix these up with **これ・それ・あれ**, which point at things, not places. これ asks "what is this object," while ここ asks "what is this place." If you're pointing at a spot on a map or a room, use ここ・そこ・あそこ — save これ・それ・あれ for objects you could actually pick up.