How to Ask Questions in Japanese: Ka, Question Words and Casual Questions
To ask a question in Japanese, you usually add か (ka) to the end of a polite sentence, with no change in word order: 学生です (“I’m a student”) becomes 学生ですか (“Are you a student?”). For open questions, put a question word such as 何 (what), どこ (where) or いつ (when) where the answer would go. In casual speech, people often drop か and just raise their voice at the end.
Yes/no questions
Take a polite statement and add か. In writing, Japanese traditionally ends the question with a full stop (。), though a question mark is common in casual text.
| Japanese | Say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 日本人ですか。 | nihonjin desu ka. | Are you Japanese? |
| コーヒーを飲みますか。 | kōhī o nomimasu ka. | Do you drink coffee? |
| 昨日、行きましたか。 | kinō, ikimashita ka. | Did you go yesterday? |
Question words
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 何 | nani / nan | What |
| 誰 | dare (polite: どなた donata) | Who |
| どこ | doko (polite: どちら dochira) | Where |
| いつ | itsu | When |
| なぜ / どうして | naze / dōshite | Why |
| どう / いかが | dō / ikaga | How (ikaga is polite) |
| どれ / どの | dore / dono | Which (one) |
| いくら / いくつ | ikura / ikutsu | How much (price) / how many |
The question word goes where the answer would be: 駅はどこですか (“Where is the station?”) is answered 駅はあそこです (“The station is over there”). Never use は after a question word as the subject; use が: 誰が来ましたか (“Who came?”). See wa vs ga.
Casual questions
With friends, drop か and use rising intonation: 行く？ (“Are you going?”), 何食べる？ (“What will you eat?”). With nouns and na-adjectives, drop だ: 学生？, not 学生だ？. の at the end asks for an explanation and sounds soft: どうしたの？ (“What happened?”). See casual vs polite Japanese.
Softer, more polite questions
- 〜でしょうか (deshō ka) sounds gentler than ですか: よろしいでしょうか (“Would that be all right?”).
- 〜んですか asks for background: どうして日本語を勉強しているんですか (“Why are you studying Japanese?”).
- Requests are often questions: 〜ていただけますか (“Could you…?”).
Answering yes and no
はい and いいえ agree or disagree with the question, not the fact. To 行かないんですか (“Aren’t you going?”), はい、行きません means “Right, I’m not going.” Japanese speakers also avoid a flat いいえ; see how to say no in Japanese.
How Hanabuddies can help
Our native Japanese tutors teach one-to-one online, in English. Asking questions is the fastest way to keep a conversation going, so we practise it from the first lesson: polite questions for work and travel, casual ones for friends, and natural follow-up questions so you can keep people talking.