이것/그것/저것 and 여기/거기/저기 (things and places)

Korean has no words that mean, by themselves, "this one" or "here" the way English does. Instead it builds them out of parts: the three pointing stems 이 / 그 / 저 ("this / that / that-yonder") plus a small bound noun that says what kind of thing you're pointing at — a thing, a place, a direction. Once you see the seams, a whole shelf of common words stops being vocabulary to memorize and becomes a system you can generate. And the payoff is bigger than convenience: because 여기/거기/저기 are literally 이/그/저 wearing a "place" suffix, they obey the exact same three-way logic as the pointing stems themselves.

If you haven't yet met the bare stems 이/그/저, read 이/그/저: the three-way demonstrative system first — this page assumes it.

The building blocks

Every full demonstrative here is stem + bound noun. The stem tells you where on the speaker–listener–distance map the referent sits; the bound noun tells you what category it is.

The "thing" words are transparent (이 + 것, the general bound noun for "thing/one"). The "place" words look opaque, but historically they too are the same stems fused with an old place morpheme — which is exactly why they line up so cleanly.

Things: 이것 / 그것 / 저것 (and casual 이거 / 그거 / 저거)

이것 is "this thing / this one," 그것 "that thing (near you or already mentioned)," 저것 "that thing over there (away from us both)." In everyday speech the crisp -것 softens to -거: 이거, 그거, 저거. The long forms belong to writing and careful/formal speech; in conversation you'll say 이거 nine times out of ten.

Notice 저건 in the third example — that's a contraction, which is the next thing to master.

The contractions you cannot avoid

This is where learners stall. When a 것/거 word meets a particle, Koreans almost always fuse them. Saying the full forms isn't wrong, but it sounds bookish, and — more importantly — you have to recognize the contractions because natives use them constantly.

For the deeper mechanics of why 이거 takes 이/가 versus 은/는 and what the choice signals, follow those particle pages.

Places: 여기 / 거기 / 저기 — and the trap

Here is the single most valuable idea on this page. 여기 / 거기 / 저기 are not a two-way "here vs. there" like English. They are a three-way split that mirrors 이/그/저 exactly:

• 여기 = my here — the place where I, the speaker, am.
• 거기 = your there — the place where the listener is, or a place already mentioned in the conversation.
• 저기 = that place yonder — away from both of us, but usually within sight.

English collapses 거기 and 저기 into one word, "there," and that collapse is the source of a chronic error. If your friend is at home and you're at the office, their home is 거기 ("there, where you are"), never 저기. 저기 is reserved for a third place off in the distance that neither of you occupies.

Because 여기/거기/저기 are place nouns, they take the location particles 에 (static point / destination) and 에서 (where an action happens / a source). And they contract: 에서 → 서 after these words (거기에서 → 거기서), while the topic form 여기는 shortens to 여긴.

Over the phone, 거기 does a lot of work — it's how you ask about the listener's surroundings:

Directions: 이쪽 / 그쪽 / 저쪽

Add -쪽 ("side, way, direction") and you get 이쪽 ("this way"), 그쪽 ("that way / your way"), 저쪽 ("that way over there"). These are your everyday words for gesturing and giving directions.

그쪽 has a second life you should know about: it can mean "you" — a chilly, keeping-your-distance "you" used with someone you're not close to and don't want to name. It literally casts the listener as "that direction over there," which is precisely the emotional effect. Meeting someone online, in an argument, or with a stranger you're annoyed at, 그쪽 substitutes for a name or 당신.

For the wider problem of how to say "you" in Korean without giving offense, see Saying "you": 너, 당신, and avoidance.

저기(요) — flagging down a stranger

Because 저기 points "over there, away from us," it doubles as the standard way to get a stranger's attention — the Korean "excuse me" / "um..." You're pointing verbally into shared, neutral space rather than at the person, which is polite. Add -요 for the polite version: 저기요.

Common Mistakes

1. Using 저기 for "there, where you are." This is the error English burns in, because English has only "here" and "there." A place you're not at but your listener is = 거기. 저기 is only "yonder, away from us both."

2. ×이거가 for the subject. The subject of 이거/이것 is the fused 이게. Analogy from other nouns tempts learners to bolt 가 onto 이거.

3. Reaching for 저것/저거 for something just mentioned. If it came up a moment ago in the conversation, it's already "in play between us" — that's 그것/그거, the listener-anchored stem. 저것 would mean you're physically pointing at a distant object.

4. Overusing the long forms 이것/그것/저것 in speech. They're not wrong, but stacking them in casual conversation sounds like reading from a textbook. Default to 이거/그거/저거 when talking; save 이것/그것/저것 for writing and formal registers.

5. Treating 그쪽 as a neutral "you." It carries distance. To a friend or someone you're being warm with, 그쪽 sounds cold or confrontational — use their name plus 씨, a title, or simply drop the pronoun.

Key Takeaways

• Demonstratives here are 이/그/저 + bound noun: things take 것/거, places are 여기/거기/저기, directions take 쪽.
• The place words are a three-way split, not English's two: 여기 = my here, 거기 = your there / the there we mentioned, 저기 = yonder, away from us both.
• In speech, 것/거 words contract with particles: 이것이 → 이게, 그것은 → 그건, 저것을 → 저걸; and 에서 → 서 (거기서), 여기는 → 여긴.
• The standard subject of 이거 is 이게, never ×이거가.
• 그쪽 can mean a distancing "you"; 저기(요) is how you flag down a stranger.