I need help with Japanese grammar!?

Question

if you are trying to say "This is Toshi." do you translate it "kore wa toshi san desu" or "kono toshi san desu" ??? please help. i think one is not supposed to be said because it is impolite but i cant remember!

Answer 1

Neither of those are correct.
"kore" does mean "this", but it means "this thing". You would not use "kore" to refer to a person, because the Japanese do not consider people to be "things".

Your second sentence is also incorrect, because it doesn't make sense to say "This Toshi".

To say "this [person]" you need to use "kochira". Kochira has other meanings as well, but one of them is to refer to people.

So, you're sentence should be:

Kochira wa Toshi-san desu.

Answer 2

Kochira wa toshi-san desu.*directs your hand to Toshi*

kore and kono are used for nouns.

kono hon wa dare no desu ka? : whose book is this?

Answer 3

It's the first one but you don't have to use 'desu'. On the socond one, 'kono' was suppose to be use on a non-living thing. It's not impolite, but will make people think Toshi is dead.

Answer 4

I want to confuse you more.lol

This is my book.
-> kore wa watashi no hon desu

This book is interesting.
-> kono hon wa omoshiroi desu

This is Toshi.
-> kochira wa Toshi desu

(on the phone)
-> Who is this?
dochira sama de shou ka?

(on the phone)
This is Toshi.
-> Toshi to ii masu.

Answer 5

It is the first one. You need "wa" because it is the article for "I" or self.