Thu, 06/24/2010 - 23:18
こんばんは。久しぶりですね。
I've been coming across this grouping of こ/そ/あ/どwords but I don't understand how it functions. Is it used like これ/それ/あれ, does it modify nouns, or is it something different?
Two phrases I've seen (though probably not the best examples):
そんなことじゃありません。
こんなはずじゃない。
ありがとうございます。＾＾
メグさん、こんにちは！ 夏休みはどうですか。楽しんでいますか。
こんな means "like this", so as you can predict the others are "like that"/"like that"/"like what?"
So そんなこと would be "a thing like that (statement you made)". そんなことじゃありません is therefore something like "No, it isn't that" or some variation thereof, depending on context.
はず means something like "intents; the way something should have happened", so こんなはずじゃない means "This isn't the way that I expected things to turn out".
The question word is frequently used, too. どんな男が好き？ = What kind of guys do you like?