Trivia on parental address in Japanese

Just a little forum posting:
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question62677.html

Noting some forms of address, and what you might use to refer to parents, but not address parents with.

Ordering food in Japan

Nice little blog post with a lot of information on phrases you will likely hear, or may be able to use, when ordering food in Japan. Looks useful!

http://www.fluentu.com/japanese/blog/how-to-order-food-in-japanese/

Japanese Question words and this,that

Japanese
1-1-10

Who - 誰　= だれ

Ex. 'dare ga oyoide imasu ka' is asking who is swimming.
Answer: otokonohito ga oyoide imasu.

What - 何　なに  or なん

Nani can be used in numerous situations.

What is the thing doing something (verb specific) 'Nani ga hashitte imasu ka? - what is running?
Answer: Uma ga hashitte imasu. - the horse is running.
NOTE: if it's a person, which rather than what is used.

What is the someone doing (verb specific that clarifies something about the verb)? - Otokonohito wa nani wo kite imasu? What is the man wearing?

What is someone doing (not verb specific)? otokonohito wa Nani wo shite imasu  What is the man doing?

What is this X item? Kono tabemono wa nan desu ka? What is this food? Answer would, say, Pan desu (it's bread).

What color is something? Kono kuruma wa nani iro desu ka? What color is this car.
Answer can replace the 'nani iro' with the color. Kono kuruma wa akai desu. This car is red

How many of something (with counting words)? Can combine ’何’ (なん) with counting word plus 'か’ (maybe, not certain if this last is always necessary) to ask how many of a certain thing there is. Ex. Nan dai ka no kuruma (how many cars - think the ka is there). Nan tooka no uma (how many horses).

Where - どこ　

Where is someone? - Otokonohito wa doko ni imasu ka? Where is the man?
Answer would be the exact same, but replace doko with the place, like 'Otokonohito wa teeburu no shita ni imasu.  The man is under the table.
Or use words like here, there, etc... ex. Kuruma wa doko ni arimasu ka?  where is the car?
Answer: Koko ni arimasu. The car is here.
NOTE: it is imasu for people, but would be arimasu for non-people, like another kind of animal, a car, food

Which - どの or どちらの (latter seems more polite, I think? Or possibly with people?)

Used to ask about which one is of something. Possibly non-human usually?
Ex. Dono uma ga tobikoete imasu ka? Which horse is jumping over something?
Answer: Kono uma ga tobikoete imasu. This horse is jumping over something.
Ex. Dochira no kodomo ga gyuunyuu o nonde imasu ka? Otokonoko ga gyuunyuu o nonde imasu.
Which child is drinking milk? The boy is drinking milk.

Useful vocab words

Demonstrative Pronouns that refer to things. (This is big. That is small. That over there is medium sized.
Question word associated with this: どれ
This  -これ - Kore wa pink desu. This is pink.
That　それ Sore wa akai desu. That is red.
That (over there)　あれ Are wa kuroi desu. That over there is black.
NOTE: Referenced from speaker, so this is near speaker, that is near listener but away from speaker, and that over there is far from both of them. UNLESS the speaker and listener are close together, and then can sometimes be treated like one entity with speaker, and the 'that' is far from both of them too, and that over there is further away.

Demonstrative pronouns that refer to places. (Near speaker (here). Near listener (there). Far from both (over there). If speaker shares territory, then the here is near both, the there is away from both, and over there is far away from both.
Question word associated with this: どこ
here (sorta) - ここ
there (sorta) - そこ
there (farther away, sorta) - あそこ

More polite demonstrative pronouns that refer to places. (Near speaker (here). Near listener (there). Far from both (over there). If speaker shares territory, then the here is near both, the there is away from both, and over there is far away from both.
Question word associated with this (the more polite way to ask, kind of means 'which direction'): どちら
here (sorta) (or this direction) - こちら
there (sorta) - そちら
there (farther away, sorta) - あちら

NOTE: the phrase どちら has other meanings too.
どちら - can mean which one of something.
 'どちらの +noun' means 'both of the noun' so dochira no otokonohito would be both men.
So sometimes the answer for a dochira question IS dochira, too.
Also, can mean "who" (dochira-sama desu ka = who is it?


Demonstrative adjectives (This (noun) is big. That (noun) is small. That (noun) over there is small.)
Question word associated with this: どの
This - この - Kono kuruma wa akai desu. This car is red.
That - その Sono kuruma wa pinku desu. That car is pink.
That (over there) - あの Are kuruma wa api desu. That car over there is blue.

(good link describing these words and usage: http://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/demonstrative-pronouns.html )