Japanese Demonstrative pronouns : Kore, sore, are and dore

A. When you want to refer to a thing the name of which you don't know or when you want to avoid repetition of the name of the thing you have already referred to, kore, sore and are are used. The difference of kore, sore and are depends on the distance from a thing to the speaker and the hearer, Kore is used for referring to something near the speaker, sore for referring to something close to the hearer but far from the speaker, and are is used for referring to something at a distance from both the speaker and the hearer.

Examples
(A book is near A, but far from B)
1. A : Kore wa nan desu ka.
"What is this?"
B : Sore wa hon desu.
"It's a book."
(A cassettetape is far from A, but near B)
2. A : Sore wa nan desu ka.
"What is that?"
B : Kore wa kasettoteepu desu.
"This is a cassette tape."
(A textbook is far from A and B)
3. A : Are wa nan desu ka.
"What is that over there?"
B : Are wa kyookasho desu.
"That is a textbook."

Dore"which one?"is a question word inquiring about one of more than two. In answering a question with dore, you should use kore, sore or are.

Examples
1. A : Keezai gakubu wa dore desu ka.
"Which one is the Faculty of Economics?"
B : Are desu.
"That one over there."
2. A : Kyookasho wa dore desu ka.
"Which one is the textbook?"
B : Kore desu.
"This one is."

B. Kore, sore, are and dore change to kono, sono, ano and dono respectively before the noun they modify.

Do not say : Kore hon
Say : Kono hon
Examples
1. A : Sore wa nan desu ka.
"What is that?"
B : Dore desu ka.
"Which one?"
2. A : Sono hon desu.
"That book."
B : Kore wa kyookasho desu.
"This is a textbook."
3. A : Ano hito wa dare desu ka.
"Who is that man over there?"
B : Are wa Ruin san desu.
"That is Mr. Lwin."
4. A : Arisu san wa dono gakusee desu ka.
"Which student is Alice san?"
B : Ano gakusee desu.
"That student over there."

C. Kochira, sochira, achira and dochira are often used to refer to a person or a place when speaking more politely. Their difference is the same as that of kore, sore, are and dore.

Examples
1. Kochira wa Ruin san desu.
"This is Mr. Lwin."
2. Achira wa Arisu san desu.
"That is Alice san."
3. Dochira e ikimasu ka.
"Where are you going?"
4. Ashita mo kochira e kimasu.
"I'll come here tomorrow, too."
In the Example 3, doko can substitute for dochira.