This and that, here and there
What are we pointing to from here and now?
المعنى
Pointing words connect what we say to people, things, places, or times in the situation or conversation. They let us refer to something nearby, farther away, just mentioned, or relevant now. Languages divide these choices differently: some also distinguish what is near the listener, and context can sometimes replace a pointing word. Unlike Near and far, this block is about pointing from a speaker's viewpoint, not simply describing distance.
طريقة التعرّف عليه
Look for words whose intended person, thing, place, or time depends on who is speaking and on the situation or conversation.
في اللغة الأم
Arabic pointing words distinguish nearby things, such as hādhā and hādhihi, from farther things, such as dhālika and tilka. Their forms depend on gender and number, but plural things normally take a singular feminine pointing word. Hunā means here, while hunāka means there; pointing words can also refer back to something mentioned.
هَذِهِ الْحَقَائِبُ ثَقِيلَةٌ. (hādhihi al-ḥaqāʾibu thaqīlatun.)
Plural objects take singular feminine hādhihi; the following noun has the article.
تِلْكَ مَدْرَسَتِي. (tilka madrasatī.)
Tilka points to a farther thing and matches the feminine noun for school.
أُفَضِّلُ الْجُلُوسَ هُنَا، لَا هُنَاكَ. (ʾufaḍḍilu al-julūsa hunā, lā hunāka.)
في اللغة قيد التعلم
English uses this/these for something presented as near and that/those for something presented as farther away. These words can stand alone or come directly before a noun, without an article. Here/there point to places and now/then to times; pointing words can also refer to parts of the conversation.
This bag is mine; that one is yours.
This presents one bag as near; that points to another bag farther away.
These shoes are wet.
These is the plural form used for things presented as near.
Please wait here.
Here points to the place where the speaker is, or the place the speaker indicates.
Learners whose language uses the same pointing form with singular and plural nouns may confuse this with these or that with those. Learners whose language keeps an article after a pointing word may add an unnecessary article before the noun.