Japanese: Possesion with Sore-Ano?

Question

Ok, I'm using Japanese for busy people and It is teaching how to ask where something comes from. I'm a bit confused. Here is the conversation:

Sumisu: Sumimasen, sono wain wa ikura desu ka.

mise no hito: 1,200-en desu.

Sumisu: Sore wa doko no wain desu ka.

mise no hito: Furansu no desu.

Sumisu: Ja, sore o 2-hon kudasai.

Ok, so the first line translates to; 'Excuse me, how much does that wine cost.' I understand that. What I don't understand is why in line 3 it changes to 'sore'. Why is it not 'Sono wain doko no desuka'? And why after saying 'sore wa' do they repeat wain? Don't we already know the subject.

And later in the book its says 'Ano pasokon wa doko no desu ka.' How come it is not 'are'? In the first conversation it uses sore, so why not are. I dont know if this is important, but 'Ano pasokon wa doko no desu ka' is a single statement, and not in a conversation. Please help!

Answer 1

Here is where being an English speaker makes it difficult to learn Japanese =D

In English, the word "that" can be used both as a noun and an adjective.

As an adjective:  "That car looks nice."  (here, "that" is modifying the noun, "car")

As a noun:  "That is a nice car."

In Japanese, separate words are used in these two situations.  "sore" and "are" are nouns while their respective counterparts "sono" and "ano" are adjectives.

To make things easier to understand and less grammatical, here's the basic rule of thumb:  Sono and ano are used only when paired with a noun.  Sore and are are used by themselves.

Let's take the sentences you mentioned.

"Sore wa doko no wain desu ka." literally translates to:

"That is where's wine?"

Here the subject is "that", a noun.  "sore" is used because it's alone.

Going on to the other sentence:

"Ano pasokon wa doko no desu ka." literally translates to:

"That computer is where's?"

Here we use "ano" because it's paired as an adjective with "pasokon".

I hope you understand my hastily thrown together explanation.  Good luck with your studies!

Answer 2

Sono/ano are used with the noun, "sono wain" that wine.

Sore is used without the noun, so it means, "that."  Get it?

They don't want to keep repeating it, so they drop it and say "that," which is where the sore comes into play, understand?

First they have to clarify which object they're talking about, Ano pasokon, then later they can say are。

EDIT:

The only part I still don't get is why they said Sore wa doko no wain desu ka. What is the point of saying wain when you already say sore wa?

Answer:

Sore wa doko no wain desu ka means, "where is that wine?" You can easily say, "Sono wain wa doko desu ka"  Can you tell me which page this on? I have that book some where.