Concerning the asking of questions in the Japanese language as opposed to making plain statements. Includes the various words and particles used in questions.
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3answers
432 views
How many Kanji characters are there?
I have been searching around, but all the sources give completely different answers ranging from 2,000 to 50,000. So my question is how many Kanji characters that have ever existed since the dawn of ...
4
votes
1answer
122 views
Why does どれだけ seem to mean the opposite of どれ + だけ?
The other day I read the word どれだけ which means how long; how much; to what extent. I've read several example sentences, and I that's all well and good, but I cannot shake the feeling that it's really ...
3
votes
1answer
107 views
What's the difference between どうして and どうやって?
I've read on stackexchange that どうやって can be used to mean "what did you do in order to x"
どうやってお医者になったか? - What did you do in order to become a doctor?
This definition makes alot of sense to ...
3
votes
1answer
150 views
Using と to mark a question
I've been working on listening practice again. This time, I'm watching the first episode of an anime series called スケッチブック 〜full color's〜.
In the first episode, a certain character asks three ...
2
votes
2answers
95 views
Negated questions
I am not sure what the response to the following question would be.
今のオリンピックは勝ち負けを気にするあまり、スポーツマンシップという大切なものをなくしているのではないか。
I am thinking it might be
はい、なくしている。
but then again with the ...
2
votes
3answers
78 views
Omitting ようだ at the end of a sentence
父はデジタルカメラの講習を受けに行ったが、あまりの難しさにびっくりしたようだ。
So this sentence is saying, "my dad went to take a short course on digital cameras, but it was difficult to the point of surprising him." Could you say
...
2
votes
1answer
90 views
Trouble with 応じる [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What makes に基づいて instead of に応じて the correct choice for this question?
I am having trouble with the following sentence.
情報はシナリオの進行に応じて追加されていきますので、時折覗いてみると良いでしょう。
I ...
10
votes
1answer
226 views
What does どうした mean and how does it differ from 何をした?
I've never really understood how どうした works and hope someone can explain or point me towards further reading.
For example, in my textbook, the following question is asked in relation to a short ...
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vote
3answers
316 views
Introducing indirect questions with と
I find it difficult to translate Japanese indirect questions into my own language partly because of different grammatical patterns and verb conjugation altogether; for example, what about this ...
6
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2answers
109 views
What's the difference between なんと and どう
I'm having a lot of trouble working out the difference between なんと and どう。 どう is "How" e.g. これはどう書きますか "How do you write this?" and is easy for me to understand. The problem is なんと、the dictionaries ...
6
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2answers
243 views
Is it grammatical to have more than one “WH question” words in a sentence?
In English it would be strange to have more than one "WH question" word in a sentence,
For example:
Tomorrow, where are we meeting, at what time and to do what ?
It sounds like it's grammatical ...
10
votes
2answers
281 views
Can だ ever be used in a question?
I learned in Tae Kim's Grammar Guide that だ cannot be used when asking a question. But in the book Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication by Taeko Kamiya, I found several example ...
8
votes
3answers
485 views
In what situation can I use ~かい (for interrogative question)?
One day, I asked my japanese friend how I could invite some friends to eat.
He said
"一緒に食べに行くかい？"
I know that we could also say:
行きましょうか（行こうか）？
行きませんか（行かない）？
行きますか（行くの）？
but I got interested ...
6
votes
3answers
161 views
Why is it that the っけ suffix can only be attached to a question-sentence
Why is it that the っけ suffix / け particle (indicating that the speaker is trying to recall some information) can only be attached to a sentence when the sentence itself is a question-sentence?
...
12
votes
4answers
314 views
To not have: 持っていません or ありません？
Whenever I go to the Life supermarket near my house, they ask me at the check out:
ライフカードを持っていますか？ (Do you have a Life
[members] card?)
I always respond with something like:
いいえ、持っていません。
...
0
votes
1answer
249 views
how would a native ask the question “Where are you going later?”
After reading the 2 threads: How to use へ (-e), に (-ni), まで (made) and の方 (no-hō) with destination and direction? and When going somewhere, is there any difference between e (へ) and ni (に)?
I would ...
13
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2answers
495 views
When asking 'What is your name?' or 'What is your job?', why is it 'は' not 'か'?
As per the title, when asking 'What is your name?' or 'What is your job?', why is it 'は' not 'か'? For example, we are taught this:
おしごとは。
'What is your job?'
But I don't understand why it ...
15
votes
4answers
3k views
What exactly is “なの” (nano)?
I asked a female Japanese friend to translate a sentence for me and it ends in "nano" which I took to be either an alternative question particle to -ne or -ka; or possibly two particles I don't know ...
9
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4answers
347 views
Use of ～のか (～んですか) in questions not seeking a yes/no answer
I would like to know if there is a shift in nuance in questions such as these:
誰が参加したんですか。 vs. 誰が参加しましたか。
いつ着いたんですか。 vs. いつ着きましたか。
I wish to limit discussion to only non-yes/no questions ...
13
votes
4answers
234 views
Questions with ~か or without: how to choose?
Studying Japanese on my own, I've learned that in order to make a question, you usually add the particle "~か", like this:
今何時ですか。
It's also true that a question can be asked without it, using ...
