koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu こいつ, そいつ,

あいつ, どいつ

In Japanese, koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu こいつ, そいつ, あい

つ, どいつ mean "this one," "that one (near you)," "that one
(far from us)," "which one?" They're kosoado words that refer
to individual items, and, sometimes, to people.

These words have nothing to do with itsu 何時, which means

"when," or itsuka 何時か, "sometime."

Manga: Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou 魁！！クロマティ高校 (Chapter 14)

• Usage
◦ そいつ vs. あいつ
• Examples
◦ こいつもどいつも
• こいつら, そいつら, あいつら, どいつら
• Origin
◦ こやつ, そやつ, あやつ, どやつ
• Kanji
Usage
The pronouns koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu can be used toward
things or toward people. Which makes them rather
problematic.
• koitsu こいつ
• This thing.
• This guy, girl, dude, person.
• soitsu そいつ
• That thing. (near you.)
• That guy, girl, dude, person.
• aitsu あいつ
• That thing. (far from us.)
• That guy, girl, dude, person.
• doitsu どいつ
• What thing?
• What guy, girl, dude, person?

When they're used toward things, they work just like kore,
sore, are, dore これ, それ, あれ, どれ. The difference being
that kore can be used toward mentioned concepts, while
koitsu is only used toward physical things, or, in some cases,
toward something you have just witnessed.
• are wa tanoshikatta
• あれは楽しかった
• That thing was fun.
• That thing that happened in the past was fun.
• aitsu wa tanoshikatta
• あいつは楽しかった
• That person was fun.
• That object was fun.

When they're used toward people, they work just like kochira,
sochira, achira, dochira こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら. The
difference being that kochira is polite, while koitsu is
considered disrespectful by a lot of people, in a lot of
situations.

Source: japanesewithanime.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)

As with everything in Japanese, when close friends do it it

implies they're intimate enough to not care politeness. In
every other case, it implies someone is looking down at
someone else by not giving them necessary respect. In
anime, it's usually the former.

Manga: Sakigake!! Cromartie Koukou 魁！！クロマティ高校 (Chapter 14)

• koitsu desu
• コイツです
• [It] is this one.
• It's this guy.
• It's him.
• eえ
• Eh.
• nandesuka?
• 何ですか？
• What is it?
Note that koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu are all gender-less
pronouns, but in English they often get translated as "he" or
"she" depending on context.
• koitsu wa baka desu ne
• こいつはバカですね
• This guy is an idiot, [isn't he]?
• This girl is an idiot, [isn't she]?

In particular, koitsu is often used when someone shows up

out of nowhere and says something absurd. Like, "what's up
with this guy?"

Manga: One Punch Man (Chapter 18)

• koko ni sundemo ii desu ka?
• ここに住んでもいいですか？
• Can [I] live here?
• un
• うん
• Hmm.
• zettai dame
• 絶対ダメ
• Absolutely not.
• maji ka koitsu
• マジかこいつ
• Is this guy for real?
◦ See: Emotive Right-Dislocation.
そいつ vs. あいつ
The difference between soitsu and aitsu is simply that soitsu
そいつ is someone or something close to the listener (whom
you're talking to), while aitsu あいつ is far from both the
speaker and the listener.

Manga: Hikaru no Go ヒカルの碁 (Chapter 2, はるかな高み)

• Context: Hikaru is looking for an adversary.
• aitsu to uteru?
• あいつと打てる？
• Can [I] [play] with [him]?
◦ Him, over there, not near you, not near me, far from us.
◦ utsu 打つ
◦ To hit.
◦ To play. (a game like Go, in which you hit stones on a
board.)
• gata.. ガタ･･
• *chair feet hitting the floor as he gets up.* (onomatopoeia.)
• a, uun, ano ko wa...
• あ うーん あの子は･･･
• Ah, err, [he] [is]...
◦ ano ko あの子
◦ That child. That kid. (pronoun like aitsu, but used more
by women.)

This follows the same pattern of any kosoado pronoun.

Source: japanesewithanime.com (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Examples
For reference, some examples illustrating how the words are
used:
• koitsu ga dou natte mo ii no ka?
こいつがどうなってもいい
のか？
• Don't [you] care about how [he] ends up?
◦ Phrase often used by a bad guy holding a hostage at
gunpoint.
◦ -temo ii ～てもいい
◦ Even so is good. In that way, too, it's good. I don't
mind if it's like that. I don't care if it's like that.
• soitsu wa ningen da!
• そいつは人間だ！
• [He's] human!
• soitsu ni nani wo shita?
• そいつに何をした？
• What did [you] do to [him]?
• aitsu ni wa maketakunai
• あいつには負けたくない
• [I] don't want to lose to [him].

Sometimes, koitsu can refer to a situation that just happened,

while soitsu can refer to a topic or idea that someone else
brought up.
• koitsu wa odoroita!
• こいつは驚いた！
• About this: surprised!
• This is surprising!
• koitsu wa dou omou?
• こいつはどう思う？
• What do [you] think about this?
• soitsu wa omoshiroi
• そいつは面白い
• That's funny.
• soitsu wa dame da
• そいつはダメだ
• That's no good.
• That idea is bad. That tool is useless. That thing is hopeless.

And, of course, it can be used toward things:

• dono juu ga hoshii?
• どの銃が欲しい？
• Which gun do you want?
• koitsu こいつ
• This one. *points to a gun.*
こいつもどいつも
The phrase koitsu mo doitsu mo こいつもどいつも, or doitsu
mo koitsu mo どいつもこいつも, means literally "this one and
everyone" or "everyone and this one." It's an expression used
when various people keep giving you trouble.

This guy gives me trouble, that guy gives me trouble,

everybody gives me trouble! Why can't they just not give me
trouble for once! koitsu mo doitsu mo!
こいつら, そいつら, あいつら, ど
いつら
The words koitsu, soitsura, aitsura, doitsura are the plural
variants of koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu. They all have the
pluralizing suffix -ra ～ら.
• koitsura
• こいつら
• These ones.
• These guys.
• soitsura
• そいつら
• Those ones. (near you.)
• Those guys. (near you.)
• aitsura
• あいつら
• Those ones. (far from us.)
• Those guys. (far from us.)
• doitsura
• どいつら
• What ones?
• What guys?
Origin
The origin of koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu is the word yatsu 奴.

Indeed, yatsu can refer to a thing or a person, just like koitsu,

soitsu, aitsu, doitsu. For example:
• kotsu wa ii yatsu da
• こいつはいいやつだ
• This guy is a good guy.
• This one is a good one.
• This thing is a good thing.

Basically, koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu is what you get by

putting kono, sono, ano, dono この, その, あの, どの before
yatsu.
• koitsu こいつ
• kono yatsu このやつ
• This one.
• soitsu そいつ
• sono yatsu そのやつ
• That one. (near you.)
• aitsu あいつ
• ano yatsu あのやつ
• That one. (far from us.)
• doitsu どいつ
• dono yatsu どのやつ
• What one?
こやつ, そやつ, あやつ, どやつ
The words koyatsu, soyatsu, ayatsu, doyatsu are the ones
that existed before, and then morphed into, koitsu, soitsu,
aitsu, doitsu. They mean the same thing. The only difference
is that the former are archaic pronouns, while the latter are
the modern variants.
• koyatsu こやつ
• This one.
• soyatsu そやつ
• That one. (near you.)
• ayatsu あやつ
• That one. (far from us.)
• doyatsu どやつ
• What one?

The plural variants:

• koyatsura こやつら
• soyatsura そやつら
• ayatsura あやつら
• doyatsura どやつら

Since they're archaic, you won't see them in normal

Japanese, but you may see them in period stories, manga,
anime, etc.
Manga: Drifters, ドリフターズ (Chapter 5)
• Context: Oda Nobunaga questions someone's preferential
treatment.
• soyatsura wa
ii no ka
no~~
• そやつらはいいのかのーーー
• Those guys are alright, huh...
◦ For those guys it's okay, but for the other guys it
wasn't okay, for some reason.
Kanji
Although koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu are normally written with
hiragana, they do have kanji, so, in some rare cases, you may
find them actually written with kanji:
• koitsu 此奴
• soitsu 其奴
• aitsu 彼奴
• doitsu 何奴

kosoado kotoba こそあど言葉

ko so a do
こ そ あ ど
kore sore are dore
これ それ あれ どれ
kono sono ano dono
この その あの どの
koko soko asoko doko
ここ そこ あそ どこ
こ
kou sou aa dou
こう そう ああ どう
konna sonna anna donn
こんな そんな あん a
な どん
な
koitsu soitsu aitsu doits
こいつ そいつ あい u
つ どい
つ
konata sonata anata donat
こなた そなた あな a
た どな
た
kochira sochira achira dochi
こちら そちら あち ra
ら どち
ら
kocchi socchi acchi docc
こっち そっち あっ hi
ち どっ
ち
kono sono ano
hito hito hito
この人 その人 あの
人
kono sono ano
ko ko ko
この子 その子 あの
子
Swearing with Kono この Kono Ore Da! この俺だ