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QUESTION & QUESTION WORDS |
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10 MINUTE LESSON RULES: 1. read each example outloud several times. 2. Pay close attention to the notes.
In this lesson we will look at how to make a question in Japanese. There are 2 main ways of making a question in Japanese. 1) add a ka to a statement, or 2) by using a question word (in English -- who, what, why...).
| A Prelude... | |
BEFORE
THE LESSON YOU NEED TO KNOW...
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CONTENTS:
1. Using か ka
2. Using the question words
NOTE: ka is a very useful little syllable. Think of it as a ? question mark.
KEY SENTENCE: Please repeat several times:
あなたは 日本人 です か？
anata wa nihonjin desu ka?
Are you Japanese?NOTE: I used a question mark after the ka, but you don't need it in 'real' Japanese. Also the wa is pronounced as wa when used as a particle even though it is a hiragana ha.
Let's start with a statement:
あなたは 日本人 です
anata wa nihonjin desu.
You are Japanese. [statement][now add the ka and see what happens]
あなたは 日本人 です か？
anata wa nihonjin desu ka.
Are you Japanese? [question]
[All we did was add the ka]
MORE EXAMPLES:
| QUESTION | ANSWER |
| おいしい です
か？ oishii desu ka? Is that delicious? [actually there is no that in the sentence] |
おいしい
です。 oishii desu. It is delicious. [this is a statement & could also be a answer: also there is no it : lit: "delicious is"] |
| おもしろい
です か？ omoshiroi desu ka? Is that interesting? [the topic could be a book, a movie, or anything] |
おもしろい
です。 omoshiroi desu. It is interesting. |
NOTE: The second way is to use question words (why, who, how...) just like in English.
THE MOST COMMON QUESTION WORDS:
In the example sentences I have used ~desu ka? but
the simplest form is just the question word.
Example: doko? Where?
どこ doko - where
どこ です か？
doko desu ka?
Where is it?えきは どこ です か？
eki wa doko desu ka?
Where is the (train) station? [simply use this format --> ~ wa doko desu ka? Where is ~ ?
だれ dare - who
だれ です か？
dare desu ka?
Who is it?かれは だれ です か？
kare wa dare desu ka?
Who is he?
いつ itsu - when
いつ です か？
itsu desu ka?
When is it?いつ いきます か？
itsu ikimasu ka?
When are you going?
どうして doushite - why
どうして です か？
doushite desu ka?
Why?
なに nani [when used as a stand-alone question word] & なん nan [when used together with another word, you will see what I mean...] - what
なん です か？
nan desu ka?
What is it?なに？
nani ?
What?なんじ です か？
nan ji desu ka?
What time is it?
来た、見た、勝った。
kita, mita, katta
"I came, I saw, I conquered!"
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Last updated:
Thursday, August 10, 2000
