How to ask questions in Japanese

find out now how to ask questions in japanese!

Asking questions in Japanese is as simple as asking questions in Portuguese. In previous articles, about the fundamental Japanese grammar, I talked a little about how to use the particle ?to ask questions in Japanese.

How to ask questions in Japanese

Because of that, I thought it would be interesting to write about the subject again, showing how to ask questions in Japanese more comprehensively and from a new perspective, broadening the word horizons for those who already know a little about this subject.

Nani, itsu, doko and dare ? what, when, where and who

Let's start by using ?, which can be used to ask questions in Japanese about all kinds of things and subjects.

To ask questions in Japanese using ?, just replace the direct object of the sentence with ? and add the particle ? at the end of the sentence.

Examples:

?????
Nan desu ka? ( which is?)

????????
Kore wa nan desu ka? (What is this?)
????????
Kore wa kame ga iru. (This is a turtle.)

????????
Nani ga tabetai no? (What do you want to eat?)
????????
sushi ga tabetai. (Eating sushi.)

????????
Sore wa nan desu ka? (What is that?)
?????????
Sore wa chiizu desu. (This is cheese.)

Realize that the pronunciation of ? changes according to her position in the sentence. To learn more about how to pronounce ? correctly, I suggest you read the article?When to use nan or nani in Japanese?.

Moving forward, ??, ? and ?? are used in the same way as ?. So, just replace the object of the sentences by any of the words mentioned above.

Examples:

????????????
Itsu burajiru and itta ka? (When did you go to Brazil?)
????????????
Kyonen, burajiru and itta. (Last year, I went to Brazil.)

?????????????
Watashi no hon ga doko ni arimasu ka? (Wheres my book?)
??????????????????
Anata at the hon ga teeburu at the ue ni arimasu. (His book is on the table.)

???????????
dare ga biiru wo nondano? (Who drank my beer?)
?????????????

???????????
dare ga biiru wo nondano? (Who drank my beer?)
?????????????

???????????
dare ga biiru wo nondano? (Who drank my beer?)
?????????????
Honda-san ga biiru wo nonda. (Mr. Honda drank the beer.)

Ikura and dorekurai – How much in Japanese

As far as I know, there are many expression variations for asking questions in Japanese using ?how much is it? and ?how much longer?. The two most basic expressions are ??? and ?????.

Generally ??? is related to the amount of money, while ????? it is related to distances, widths, dimensions and so on.

Examples:

???????????
kono hon wa ikura desu ka? (How much does this book cost?)
???????????
kono hon wa nihyaku en desu. (This book costs two hundred yen.)

????????????
Toukyu wa dorekurai desu ka? (How far to Tokyo?)
?????????
nan kiro motooi desu. (A few kilometers.)

Another way to ask questions in Japanese regarding quantities is to use counters. I've already written about some of them in previous articles. If you want to review or meet the counters, I suggest reading the article ?Counters to count in Japanese?.

Examples:

??????????
Hon wo nansatsu kaimasu ka? (How many books will you buy?)
?????
Yonsatsu desu. (Four books.)

???????????????
Conpyuuta o nandai motte iru? (How many computers do you have?)
?????
Sandai desu (Three.)

An interesting thing is that when we don't know the correct counter for something, we can use the generalist accountant in Japanese. In this case, ??? will come ???, receiving the extension of the generalist accountant and making it possible to ask questions in Japanese for many different things.

Example:

???????????
kaki o ikutsu tabemasuka? (How many persimmons will you eat?)
?????
mitsu desu (three.)

Doushite? because in japanese

To know the reason for something in Japanese, we use the word ????. The most common way to answer Japanese questions asked with ???? is adding ?? at the end of the answer.

So to answer a question asked with ????, just create the answer phrase and add ?? at the end of it.

Example:

?????????????
Doushite nihon ni ikimasu ka? (Why are you going to Japan?)
????????????
Nihon o benkyoushitai kara. (Because I want to learn Japanese.)

Image credits belong to oberazzi.

Kanji calligraphy exercise

Below are the Japanese ideographic symbols used in this article. Selecting the desired kanji and copy and paste them into Worksheet for Kana and Kanji Practice  clicking the Generate button will open a new window where you can see the file for printing. Then just print the symbols and try to write it yourself. Just print and practice!

?	?	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
?	?	?	?	?
?	?	?