Japanese Grammar | Asking Questions in Japanese

Today we talk about the fundamentals of any language. Let’s talk Questions in Japanese!

Questions are essential to keep the natural flow of conversation going.

And even if your Japanese is not at a conversational level yet, you’ll definitely need to ask for the price of the souvenirs you’d like to buy, right?

So today we are going to teach you about the question words, but before we do anything, have you studied all the Japanese particles yet?

If you can recall, the most important particle needed to ask a question is particle か。

Go check it out if you haven’t already.

The particle か is used at the end of a sentence to ask a question.

Additionally, it’s important to know that the question mark is not used in the Japanese Language.

You should also practice other particles like は, に and が as you will need to use them while making a question sentence.

Moving on!

Asking Questions in Japanese with いつ (When)

When you don’t need to know the exact time, but would like to know roughly when an event is occurring, you can use the Japanese question word いつ.

いつ

itsu

When

For example, you might not want to know someone’s exact time of birth when asking about their birthday, right? In this instance, you can use the following example:

Asking Questions in Japanese with 何時 (At what time)

Japan has a reputation for being an efficient nation, take their incredibly prompt trains as a good example!

You’ll need this question word more times than you think.

何時

nanji

At what time

Remember that friend whose birthday you just asked? Guess what? It’s tomorrow!

Now, you want to go to the shop to buy a gift for that friend. You wouldn’t want to miss a train, would you? So, you can keep this example in mind:

By the way, did you know Shinjuku Station is the world’s busiest train station?

Asking Questions in Japanese with なん (What)

Now that you have reached the shop, you are looking at various things but you are just confused.

While practicing Japanese counters, we have learned that 何 is the kanji for なん which means ‘what‘. So this question word is just that!

なん

nan

What

If you have something in pointing range, and would like to know what that is, you can just ask:

Asking Questions in Japanese with いくら (How much)

Oh, you’ve found something you like! To ask the price of an item, the question word いくら will be used.

いくら

ikura

How much

Let’s say you’ve decided to buy a book. Here, you can use the topic marker particle は to ask about the specific object.

Asking Questions in Japanese with どう / いかが  (How)

Now that you are considering the gift to buy, you’d want to get a second opinion from a friend, just to be sure.

When you want to ask someone’s opinion, you can use this question word.

どう

dō

How

いかが along with でしょうか forms a polite version of the sentence.

Asking Questions in Japanese with だれ / どなた (Who)

Finally, you are at the friend’s birthday party.

You discover lots of new people. So this question word is specifically used for people. If you want to ask your friend who someone is, you’ll use this question word. 

どなた (donata) is a polite form of だれ (dare).

Are you a Flexi Classes student already?

Learn more about Questions in Japanese in the following Flexi lessons:

How Old Are You? (A1, Chapter 1)
This Is The Key (A1, Chapter 1)
What Is This? (A1, Chapter 1)
I Am Good At Cooking (A1, Chapter 2)

Not a Flexi Student yet?

START YOUR 7 DAY FREE TRIAL

You’ve now been introduced to the 6 most common Japanese Question Words.

You’re ready to ask questions in Japanese!

In this lesson we also mentioned some other grammar points you’d want to review:

• Japanese particles
• Japanese counters
• Japanese adjectives
• Japanese negative form

We regularly update our Japanese Grammar Bank with new lessons for all levels, so make sure to come back to check them out.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS