JLPT N5 Lesson 20: Asking Questions



How to ask a question

This lesson aimed at helping elimentary level students learn how to ask questions. Here we will learn how to form an interrogative sentence in Japanese. We will also learn about the question words those are necessary to ask a question.
Note: In the above illustration, the verb 'にげる (run away)' has been used in one of the sentence, but this verb may not be tested in JLPT N5 level.

Question Marker

In Japanese, the particle 'か' is used as the equivalent of English question mark (?). Just by placing the particle か at the end of a simple affirmative or negative sentence we can make it an interrogative sentence and the structure of the sentence will not be affected in any other parts of the sentence. Whereas in English we know the sentence structure needs to be changed to agree with numbers (singular/plural) and to agree with the tense of the verbs when we transform a simple sentence to an interrogative sentence. In that sense Japanese is easy, right?
In writing formal Japanese, no question mark is used to denote interrogative sentences, the particle 'か' denotes that the sentence is an interrogative sentence. Using the '?' after the word 'か' actually would be redundant but in romanized Japanese or in casual and creative writing or in Manga, using the question mark (?) is common.
Besides the 'か' particle, 'の' particle is also used to denote an interrogative sentence (mostly in conversations).
Example:
Statement: かれはがくせいです。= He is a student.
Question: かれはがくせいですか。= Is he a student?
Statement: わたしはいまほんをよみます。= I will read book now.
Question: わたしはいまほんをよみますか。 = Shall I read book now?
Satement: いま がっこうへいく。= I will go to school now.
Question: いま がっこうへいくの? = Are you going to school now?

Answering Questions

Usually, the answer will be according to the questions, but typically, first we need to agree or disagree which is 'yes' or 'no' alone or together with some other helping words such as - 'yes it is' or 'no, you are wrong'.
はい = Yes
ええ = Yes
いいえ = No
はい、そうです。= Yes, it is.
いいえ、そうではありません。= No, it's not that.
はい、わかりました。= Yes, understood.
いいえ、ちがいます。= No, it isn't. (different opinion - not agreeing)

Practice:

Question: すずきさんはにほんじんですか。= Is Mr. Suzuki Japanese?
Anser: はい、そうです。= Yes, he is.
Question: あしたがっこうへいきますか。= Are you going to school?
Answer: はい、いきます。= Yes, I'll go.
Question: あなたはおかねもちですか。= Are you a rich person?
Answer: いいえ、そうではありません。= No, it isn't.
Question: あなたはアメリカじんですか。= Are you an American?
Answer: いいえ、ちがいます。= No, it isn't.

Question Words

But for more specific questions, like in English, in Japanese also the same kind of question words are used.

What = なん [何] / なに [何]

:-: これはなんですか。What is this?
:-: なにをたべますか。= What will you eat?
:-: なんじですか。= What time is it?
:-: おなまえはなんですか。= What is your name?
:-: なんばんですか。 = What number is this?
Note: When 何 is used before particle を or が it is always pronounced as なに.
:-: 何 [なに] をしますか。= What are you doing?
:-: 何 [なに] をたべましたか。= What did you eat?

What (kind of) = どんな

:-: どんなスポーツが一番すきですか。= What sport do you like best?

Who = どなた (polite)

:-: あのかたはどなたですか。= Who is that person?

Who = だれ (informal)

:-: かれはだれですか。= Who is he?
:-: だれがきましたか。= Who came?

Whom = だれを / だれと (*also refers to 'who' based on the context)

:-: いまだれとあいますか。 = To whom do you meet now?
:-: だれをみますか。 = Whom will you see?

Whose = だれの

:-: これはだれの本ですか。 = Whose book is this?

Which (one out of two) = どちら (polite)

:-: あなたの本はどちらですか。= Which one is your book?

Which (one out of two) = どっち (informal)

:-: あなたのかばんはどっちですか。= Which one is your bag?
Note: どちら usually means 'which one out of two', but when it refers to place, asking question using 'どちら' or 'どっち' may means which place from the option 'unknown number of places'.
example: こんかいはどちらの国へいきますか。= This time which country are you going?

Which = どれ

:-: どれがあなたのかばんですか。= Which one is your bag?

Which(refer to subject) = どの~

:-: あなたはどの本がすきですか。= Which book do you like?

When = いつ

:-: お誕生日 (たんじょうび) はいつですか。= When is your birthday?

Where = どこ

:-: えきはどこですか。= Where is the station?

Why = なぜ

:-: それはなぜですか。= Why is that?

Why = どうして

:-: どうしていつもおそく学校 (がっこう) へきますか。= Why do you always come to school late?

How = どう

:-: これはどうですか。= How is it?

How = いかが

:-: いかがですか。= How is it?

How much = いくら

:-: これはいくらですか。= How much is it?

How many = いくつ

:-: いちねんにはきせつがいくつありますか。= How many seasons are there in a year?
This lesson is up to here. If you enjoyed this lesson, please help spread it by clicking one of those sharing buttons in the top-left corner beside the article title.


JLPT N5 Resources: Vocabulary Lists:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

JLPT N5 - Verb List

Image
Verbs necessary to pass JLPT N5 The following is a list of 109 verbs which you need to know in order to make yourself confident to pass the JLPT level N5. Here, the dictionary form (plain form) and Masu form (polite form) of the verbs are listed with English meaning, hope this will work as your reference material. Note: Need to pay proper attention how the forms changed when you need to make it a [ます] form of verb. For example: おきる = to get up and おく = to put, to keep; but when written in hiragana, [ます] form of おきる is おきます and masu form of おく is also おきます. Let's see more verbs how they change from dictionary form to polite form: おきる → おきます; DROP [る] from [おきる] to make it [ます] form; おく → おきます; CHANGE [く] to [き] to make it [ます] form; たべる → たべます; DROP [る] from [たべる] and add ます. いく → いきます; CHANGE [く] to [き] and add ます. あそぶ → あそびます; CHANGE [ぶ] to [び] and add ます. のむ → のみます; CHANGE [む] to [み] ます. くる → きます; CHANGE [く] to [き] and DROP [る] and add ます. する → します; CHANGE [る] to [し]
Read more

JLPT N5 - Lesson 3 - Hiragana Part 1

Image
Hiragana Keyboard The first step of your Japanese learning journey is to learn the Hiragana and Katakana characters. The Japanese writing system has 3 components which are Hiragana - 46 basic characters to write the native words. Katakana - 46 Katakana characters for writing foreign words. Kanji - Kanji are actually Chinese characters used in modern Japanese writing system used as stem of a word convey meaning of the word as well as sound. Please note that all these are characters and not alphabets. In this lesson I will introduce Hiragana and in next two lessons I will introduce Katakana and Kanji. Once you master Hiragana, Katakana will become easier to learn. Hiragana -  Each Hiragana character represents a particular syllable. First five hiragana characters 'a' 'i' 'u' 'e' 'o' represents vowel sound and only one character n represents consonant sound, remaining all characters represents a consonant-vowel sound. Here is the basic
Read more

JLPT N5 Lesson 19: Counting and Counter Words

Image
Counting in Japanese In the above picture, it is shown how to count from 1 to 20 in Japanese. Now we will see how to count upto 10000 easily by following some pattern. 1st pattern is, ten (10) is じゅう (juu), twenty(20) is にじゅう (ni-juu), thirty(30) is さんじゅう (san-juu) and so on up to ninety (90). And the 2nd pattern is, for example, ten (10) is じゅう (juu), eleven (11) is じゅういち (juu-ichi), twelve (12) is じゅうに (juu-ni). Using the same pattern with Twenty which is にじゅう (ni-juu), we can make twenty one = にじゅういち (ni-juu-ichi), twenty two = にじゅうに (ni-juu-ni), twenty three = にじゅうさん (ni-juu-san) and so on. Now let us count 100 and above. 100 = 百 [ひゃく] 200 = 二百 [にひゃく] 300 = 三百 [さんびゃく] 400 = 四百 [よんひゃく] 500 = 五百 [ごひゃく] 600 = 六百 [ろっぴゃく] 700 = 七百 [ななひゃく] 800 = 八百 [はっぴゃく] 900 = 九百 [きゅうひゃく] 1000 = 千 [せん] 2000 = 二千 [にせん] 3000 = 三千 [さんぜん] 4000 = 四千 [よんせん] 5000 = 五千 [ごせん] 6000 = 六千 [ろくせん] 7000 = 七千 [ななせん] 8000 = 八千 [はっせん] 9000 = 九千 [きゅうせん] 10000 = 一万 [いちまん] Now let us count some
Read more

JLPT N5 - Lesson 4 - Hiragana Part 2 - Dakuon and Handakuon

Image
Dakuon ( '' ) or dakuten are two small strokes placed on top-left corner of certain hiragana/katakana that changed the sound of those basic kana. It is the voiced sound of か [ka],さ [sa], た [ta] and は [ha]-row syllables. The 'K' sound will be 'G' sound with dakuten, for example, か (Ka) will become が (Ga). The 'S' sound will be 'Z' sound with dakuten, for example, さ (Sa) will become ざ (Za). The 'T' sound will be 'D' sound with dakuten, for example, た (Ta) will become だ (Da). The 'H' sound will be 'B' sound with dakuten, for example, は (Ha) will become ば (Ba). Handakuon (。) or handakuten is a small circle placed over は [ha]- row syllables and modify the consonant pronunciation from H sounds to P sounds. All the Dakuon and Handakuon characters are listed in the above picture. Now let us make some words with the Hiragana characters that we have learnt already だけ [dake] - Only ごご [gogo] - Afternoon どこ [dok
Read more

JLPT N5 - Lesson 1 - Why Japanese Language

Image
Japan - the Land of the Rising Sun -  is one of the most advanced nations both economically and  technologically. Besides that, it has a vibrant culture, a rich history and the urge to be 'the number one' -"Dai Ichi" in everything. All of these features may attract you to know more about Japan and may appeal to you to learn Japanese Language as well. Moreover you need to know Japanese Language - to work or study in Japan. Japanese is the 2nd most popular language after English and many Universities around the world offers Japanese Language and Literature. JLPT  - The Japan Foundation and Japan Educational Exchanges and Services are two authorities that administer and conduct tests on Japanese Language Proficiency and issue official certificates for the specific level a student sits for. The tests are held world wide twice a year for non-native Japanese speakers. There are 5 levels - ranging from basic level (N5) to very advanced level (N1).  Additional b
Read more

JLPT N5 Resources - Vocabulary List 01

Image
JLPT N5 - Resources - Vocabulary List - 01 Words Starting With あ い う え お As of 2010, the JLPT no longer publishes an official vocabulary list. I have collected all the data from various sources, mostly past exam books and general idea, so please note this list is not very particular and there are chances words may appear out of this list. Furigana Kanji Meaning 1 あう 会う to meet 2 あお 青 blue 3 あおい 青い blue 4 あか 赤 red 5 あかい 赤い red 6 あかるい 明い bright 7 あき 秋 autumn 8 あく 明く開く空く to open, be open閉じていたものがひらく。 9 あける 開ける to open 10 あげる 上げる to give 11 あさ 朝 morning 12 あさごはん 朝御飯 breakfast 13 あさって あさって day after tomorrow 14 あし 足 foot, leg 15 あした 明日 tomorrow 16 あそこ あそこ over there 17 あそぶ 遊ぶ to play, to make a visit 18 あたたかい 暖かい warm 19 あたま 頭 head 20 あたらしい 新しい new 21 あちら あちら there 22 あつい 暑い hot 23 熱い あつい hot to the touch 24 あつい 厚い kind, deep, thick
Read more

JLPT N5 - Lesson 5 - Katakana Part 1

Image
Katakana - actually there are no difference in sound in both sets of characters only the looks are different - hiragana is curvy but katakana is more straight compare to hiragana and few characters looks very similar for example He - へ ヘ and Ri - りリ . Another difference is that hiragana is used as okurigana - prefixes for kanji but katakana character's usage is limited to writing foreign/loan words mostly. # Other than words of foreign origin, to write any foreign person name or place name or any object name Katakana is used. # For writing repeating word or onomatopoeia also Katakana is used for example ワンワン [wanwan] - dogs barking sound. # Sometimes to emphasis a particular word in a sentence also written in Katakana, such as それはダメです。 46 Basic katakana characters are shown in the below picture: Now let's practice some words in Katakana. After any consonant vowel, if another pure vowel is used then it become long vowel. For long vowel ー this sign (a long dash sign)
Read more

JLPT N5 - Lesson 9 - Japanese Particles Inrtroduction

Image
About Japanese particles: In this lesson we will know about Japanese particles. As we know particle means small element, here Japanese particles are small words that helps to create sentences indicating the relations of words within a sentence. To identify topic, subject or object or to specify direction or possession or many other reason these particles follow other parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives of a sentence and make the sentence complete and meaningful. Some particles may be compared to prepositions some may be compared to conjunctions in English or some have other kind of usage. There are 188 particles in Japanese language but we will learn only those which are necessary to attempt JLPT exam. Here we introduce some most common particles and as the lesson will progress we will introduce more and more particles. Special attention need for how these three particles are written and pronounced: は (written ha, pronounced wa as a particle), へ (written he, pron
Read more

JLPT N5 - Lesson 8 - Japanese Everyday Greetings

Image
あいさつ [Aisatsu] is the word for greetings in Japanese. In Japanese society, greetings play an important role in everyday life. Today we learn some common greetings. おはよう ございます おはよう ございます [ohayou gozaimasu] - Good Morning!　is a formal greetings used in Japanese every day life. In the morning hour meeting with people you may greet him or her by saying おはよう ございます, in reply the other party also greet you as saying the same word. When the relation between the both parties are very casual then they may greet each other by just saying おはよう. In kanji it is お早う。 こんにちは Once you have the feelings the morning is already over you may greet people with こんにちは [konnichiwa] which means 'Good Day!' or 'Good Afternoon' or you may use it just as like 'Hello!'. If someone greet you first with こんにちは in reply you also need to say the same thing 'こんにちは'. Note in writing you need to use は [ha] character instead of わ [wa] character. こんにちは is written in kanji as 今日は。(今[kon]+日[
Read more
Flag Counter