Difference of making Questions...

[Edvent]

Hi all!

Got a question about making questions!

What is the difference between making a question with "ka" and with "no/nano" ?

I absolutely can't find an answear to this...
maybe someone can help me

[SaigoNoBan]

どうも Edventさん! お元気ですか。

First of all, ending with の　（in an affirmative sentence） means "the fact is that"... By itself it sounds feminine, so males stick a copula after it.

書く。　＝　”I write”
書くの。　＝　”Fact is　I write”　（女）
書くのだ　（Often it becomes 書くんだ）　＝　”Fact is　I write”　（男）

This is called "explanatory の"　Because it is often used to explain a reason of something.　Like,　if asked, どうして晩御飯がない？　（Why isn't dinner ready... er, I think..。;)）　You could say,　書いているのだ。　（Fact is I am writing right now）

Now, in questions, you cannot use the plain present copula to end the sentence so it falls off：

書きますか？　＝　”Do you write?”
書くの?　＝　”Is it that you write?”　（Formally, it would become,　書くのですか？/書くんですか?）

If a sentence ends with a plain present copula, it changes from だ　to　な　before the の：

７時　だ。　-＞　７時　なの（だ/です）。

And as a question:

７時なの？

Mehr dazu hier:　;)
http://www.guidetojapanese.org/particles3.html

[amego]

hello! i think ka is more formal while no is colloquial...often, no becomes -n

nani o shite imasu ka What are you doing?
nani o yatte iru no>>> nani o yattenno? Watcha doing?

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/afaq/colloquial-contractions.html
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/afaq/no-da.html
http://www.thejapanesepage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2265
hope it helps

[Edvent]

Ah now I understand a little bit better, thx!!

It was just because I somewhere saw this:
"kimi wa gakusei nano = are you a student?"
an I asked myself:
"why isn't it: kimi wa gakusei desu ka"

thx again for the detailed answear!