n' ?

[Cherie061403]

I purchased a new book "Basic connections" and it uses sentences like this one:
何で行くんですか。
nani de iku n' desu ka.

or

日本ではどこにいらっしゃるんですか。
Nihon de wa doko ni irassharu n' desu ka.


What does the n' mean? I haven't encountered it before this book. Also the book uses nani in a sentence. Isn't it supposed to be nan? Unless used alone? Thanks in advance! ^_^

[richvh]

The plain form of a verb or adjective, in either its present or past form, plus -no-desu or -n-desu is used under the following circumstances:

(1) when emphatically giving reason or offering an explanation.
(2) when asking for an explanation with concern
(3) when displaying emotional emphasis

I think your example fits into category 2 above.

[zengargoyle]

also, n' is used in roomaji to show that the 'n' is the sylabic 'n' and not attached to the following vowel.

単衣 (たんい) (n) unlined kimono;

たんい == tan'i
たに == tani

[mandolin]

I concurr with richvh on the use of -no desu and -ndesu.

As far as your book using n' in the romaji, there's a reason that's not very clear from those particular examples.

It's used for the ん kana. There's quite a few words/phrases that are someone ambiguous when writte out in roman letters. Like "manichi".

Is it ma-n-i-chi or ma-ni-chi?

man'ichi is more clear, and you know it's んい　and not に.

I wasn't exactly sure which sort of answer you were after for the n' so I figured I'd cover the base that rich hadn't already.

Nani vs nan... I think nan would fit there better, myself. nan de iku ndesu ka. Maybe someone further along than I am would be able to give a reason your book uses the full 'nani'. Hrm.

[Infidel]

So far as I know, nan is usually for numbers.

[Harisenbon]

なん isn't just for numbers

なんと言った？
月をタッチするなんてわけないさ。
なんだろうね
そうなんですか？
等。。。

Or did you mean something else?

[Infidel]

I didn't say just for numbers, usually for numbers. There are exceptions to everything.