Lesson 18: Demonstrating: これ, それ, あれ, どれ, and friends
These words are called demonstratives. Demonstratives are words that mean things like "this", "that", etc.
Japanese is different than english on this front in two ways. First, its demonstratives are much more regular, and second, it has demonstratives point at three "locations" instead of two.
これ this thing
それ that thing (near you / over there)
あれ that thing (over there / over yonder) (distant)
どれ which thing
コレはいいですか Is this good?
The above four words are "demonstrative pronouns". There's two pronouns that translate into english as "that", but they reference different places. それ is for things that are near the "second person" instead of just away from the "first person". あれ is for things that aren't close to either person.
Again, aside from "that" being split into two categories, they're very similar to english. Physical distance is just a useful reference about how they're different, not a deciding factor about how they're used.
The demonstrative "determiners" just use good old の. A determiner determines a particular thing or group of things.
この this X
その that X
あの that X (distant)
どの which X
このバカが...! This idiot...!
There are also "sorts", locations, etc. The あ series is a little irregular, but the か and さ series are regular.
ここ here (this place)
こちら/こっち this way (towards here)
こんな this sort of X
こう like this
そう like that
あそこ over there (distant)
ああ like that (distant)
There are a couple demonstrative personal pronouns as well, but the meanings of the most common ones look a little irregular. These are the common ones.
こいつ this guy
そいつ that guy
あいつ that guy (distant)
あなた you (yep, this is a demonstrative)
Literal physical distance is not the determining factor for which personal pronoun is used in a given situation, common use is.
どいつ exists but it's mostly only used in grammatical constructions.