Japanese Question Words
Japanese asks questions without reordering anything. Keep the sentence as it is, swap in a question word, and add か at the end.
The question words
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誰 だれ dare
DAH-reh
-
who
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何 なに nani
NAH-nee
-
what
Shortens to nan before desu and counters
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どこ doko
DOH-koh
-
where
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いつ itsu
EE-tsoo
-
when
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どうして dōshite
DOH-shteh
-
why
なぜ naze is the more formal version
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どう dō
doh
-
how
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どれ dore
DOH-reh
-
which one
どの dono in front of a noun
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いくら ikura
ee-KOO-rah
-
how much
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いくつ ikutsu
ee-KOO-tsoo
-
how many
One particle does all the work
Adding か, ka, to the end of a statement makes it a question. Nothing else moves. 学生です means I am a student; 学生ですか means are you a student.
That means there is no inversion to learn, no do to insert, and no word order to rearrange.
The question word simply sits where the answer would go. どこですか, doko desu ka, is literally where is it, with doko standing in the spot the place name would occupy.
Written Japanese often skips the question mark, because か already marks it. A question mark appears mostly in casual writing where the か is dropped.
何 has two readings. It is nani on its own but nan in front of desu or a counter: 何ですか is nan desu ka, 何人 is nannin.
- お名前は何ですか。What is your name?
- トイレはどこですか。Where is the toilet?
- いくらですか。How much is it?
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