How to make Questions and a few common Question words

10 MINUTE LESSON RULES: 

1. Read each example out loud several times. 
2. Pay close attention to the notes.

1) Using か ka

NOTE: か is a very useful little thing. Think of it as a ? question mark.

KEY SENTENCE: Please repeat several times:

あなたは 日本人(にほんじん) です か？

anata wa nihonjin desu ka?
Are you Japanese?

Note: When it is obvious you are asking the person the question, the あなたは can be dropped. Dropping the topic when the context is clear is more natural in Japanese.

Let’s start with a statement:

あなたは 日本人にほんじん です。

anata wa nihonjin desu.
You are a Japanese person. [statement]

[now without changing any word, add the ka and see what happens]

あなたは 日本人にほんじん です か？

anata wa nihonjin desu ka?
Are you Japanese?  [question]

Note: All we did was add the ka. The overall sentence structure didn't change like it does in English.

Statement + か = Question

2) Using question words

NOTE: The second way is to use question words (why, who, how…) just like in English.

THE MOST COMMON QUESTION WORDS:

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 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 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 です か？
doushite desu ka?
Why?

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?

Going through sentence breakdowns is a great way to get a feel for Japanese sentence structure and learn vocabulary. Our Makoto+ membership has weekly sentence breakdowns as well as many other perks. 

来(き)た、見(み)た、勝(か)った。

kita, mita, katta
“I came, I saw, I conquered!”

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