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15
Yes, it can be used in a question, as long as the sentence also contains a question word: だれ, なに, どこ, etc.
誰だ？ = Who's there?
何やってんだよ = What (the hell) are you doing? - (Note that よ can be added at the end)
Both of your examples fit this pattern: どうして and どこ are the question words.
Without a question word, you are much less likely to see this pattern, ...
15
お仕事は？ Oshigoto wa? is basically short for お仕事は何ですか？ Oshigoto wa nan desu ka?
あなたは仕事ですか？ Anata wa shigoto desu ka? means "Are you work?" and is nonsensical†.
は wa (not わ BTW) is the topic marker.* Just asking 〜は basically means "About ~..." and only hints at the actual question. Leaving things unspoken is a very typical thing in Japanese. "About (your) ...
11
Everyone's done a great job of answering this one, so I'm just going to add a quick answer. The なの that you're asking about is really just の. The な is only there if you use it after a noun or a na-adjective (きれい, 大変, 非常). The most common way of using this の is as a question marker.
そうなの - Is it really?
This is the same as そうなんですか but less formal.
...
11
An authoritative classic, the Kāngxī dictionary, lists over 47,000 characters. The Hanyu Da Zidian, a more modern reference, has over 54,000 characters; the Dai Kan-Wa Jiten, the Japanese equivalent, has over 50,000. Even more recently, the Zhōnghuá Zìhǎi has over 85,000 characters, but apparently many of those are variants.
Of course, such counting is ...
8
どうする is more general than 何をする. The latter is more related to a specific event, whereas the former asks for a general course of action.
I would thus say that you could translate the sentence as
母親の気持ちに対して、住友君はどうしましたか？
How did Sumitomo-kun react to his mother's feelings?
rather than
What specifically did Sumitomo-kun do with regards to his ...
8
なの relates to the ～のだ construction, and as such provides explanatory, secondary, or supporting information (which could be a reason, a cause, or other fact the speaker feels would aid in the listener's understanding). Note that the な is only used if the preceding word is a noun or な-adjective. Following a verb or い-adjective, only の is used:
...
8
As opposed to 「か」, which is open-ended and can have any sort of answer, 「かい」 is expected to have an answer in the affirmative or negative only, that is, yes or no, with subsequent explanation optional.
Example:
誰か来たのか
誰か来たのかい
誰が来たのか
× 誰が来たのかい
7
Well, I'm not native, so I don't know if this disqualifies me from answering... ... But in the context of your question, I'd say この後（で）どこ{へ／に}行く？
Your #1 could work, but using just あと instead of このあと gives a sense of "later" later. Adding the この solidifies the meaning of "after this", where "this" means being at school. You wouldn't use まで unless John ...
6
It's fine, although, as in English, if you stack up too many you end up with something faintly ridiculous, of course. (This can even be emphasised for humorous purposes: try Googling "地球が何回回った時").
Still, I would say that Japanese is more tolerant of multiple WH- words in a sentence than English is, maybe because in Japanese the WH- words can be left in ...
6
Although these sentences are nearly always translated as questions, the (admittedly informal and possibly colloquial) usage of っけ followed by か suggests that there is a difference at least on some level. In my experience, "questions" formed via the っけ particle are often rhetorical -- but just as often, they are interpreted as a request for information.
...
6
If you drop か, your rising intonation will indicate a question.
今何時ですか。- canonical polite form
今何時です- slightly less formal, feminine form.
今何時- casual
今何時だ- demanding and rude. Doesn't require rising intonation. Just watch something with gangsters and you'll hear it :)
5
The quick answer: rather than interpreting this as だけ "only", this is 丈 ("length"). Normally read as take, voices during compounding.
Before someone calls me out on it, the more precise answer: both are the same word. The word dake "only" is written as 丈 and derives from 丈 (take). The translation "only" is not always appropriate as is clear in this case.
...
5
50,000 is usually the number given for the number of Kanji characters since the dawn of time.
2,000 is roughly the number than comprises compulsory education.
5,000 is often assigned to particularly well-read persons (e.g. university professors).
I remember reading a newspaper article about one of these "living national treasures", who was supposedly able ...
4
なの is kind of a conclusion used at the end of explanation with a calm/quit sense. Example.,
彼女は大学生なのよ She is university student, you know.
It is just combination of two particles な and の.
なのです is polite form, and なの is same with なのだ just omitting だ after that.
sometime it is used as 〜なんです。
なの is used by females most of the time, but なんです may use by ...
4
の/ん often indicate that the speaker is attempting to explain or account for some fact. This can connect the question to a previous statement made by the addressee.
For example:
A: (Wow, some of the people who participated in the tournament were really good!)
B: 誰が参加したんですか。
Here B would like to know which people inspired A to make that statement.
...
4
It is more polite if you omit or not using straight form when asking personal things.
お しごと は
means
お しごと は なんですか？
And following is not correct
あなた は しごと です か
which means "Are you a work?"
4
You may want to look here and here.
Outside of polite language, か should be used with care. Generally, it has a very masculine and rough sounding atmosphere. Generally, in informal language, it only used when being very direct or sarcastic.
Here's a good example taken from the second link:
そんなのは、あるかよ！(Do you think (I) would have that kind of thing!?)
...
4
だっけ denotes a question of the form "(proposed fact) ... is this so?", where (proposed fact) is a fact that the questioner once knew but has since forgotten. It is not rhetorical, at least not in the sense that the questioner (now) knows the answer. The questioner is no longer sure of the answer, and is seeking confirmation.
外国のレストランでのチップって 10% だっけ？ : I ...
4
どう can be paraphrased as "in which way", "in what manner". なんと cannot, and it means "as what".
これはどう言いますか。
(literally) 'In what manner do you say this?'
'How do you pronounce this?'
これは何と言いますか。
(literally) 'As what do you say this?'
'How do you call this?'
4
From The Structure of The Japanese Language, Susumu Kuno (1980, p. 274-278)
The words in parenthesis and the bolding are my additions.
What is at issue here is not the presence or absence of the syntactic negative but the presence or absence of the semantic negative in questions. In other words, the deciding factor here is whether the questioner is ...
3
Multiple wh-question is fine in any language as far as I am aware of. The relevant parts in the answer are related by some function or are lists.
English:
A: Who is meeting whom where when to do what tomorrow?
B: John is meeting Bill at 3:00 at school to review the class [single answer]
B': John is meeting Bill at 3:00 at school to review the ...
3
Short answer: 持っていません is the more appropriate. Because under this context, it says what needs to be said in the least surprising way.
To my understanding, the cashier only wants to know if you have the card right now and here:
ライフカードを持っていますか？ Do you have a Life [members] card with you? (So you can earn points now?)
In this case, just saying 持っていません or ...
3
ありません is informal, but we use it often. 持っていません means "you don't HAVE (= carry ) it"
ありません actually means it doesn't exist, but no one actually cares :p
And additional comments: if you are saying ありません then you don't have to say いいえ. Same thing with the opposite, if you say いいえ then you don't to say ありません.
In japanese, the answer doesn't have to be ...
3
I'm not so sure about the folksiness, but it's definitely very informal. I've mainly heard it used in speaking to children and intimates. I don't think it would be used toward social superiors in most situations. By the way, there's an analogous variant of the copula, だい, as in 「ママのおにぎりはどうだい？」.
3
I think that どうやって is a method, whereas [何]{なに}で is asking for "by means of what?". So, for your example
どうやって作文を書いたんですか
asks for the whole process for you to be able to have written your essay. E.g. what sources did you read? What parts are you quoting? How are you organizing your references? etc.
何で作文を書いたの?
should be answered "by hand" or "I ...
3
For what it's worth, according to wikipedia, the current largest compendium of Chinese characters, 異体字辞典(Yitizi Zidian), has 106,230 entries, which I believe includes alternate versions of characters.
2
Since nobody has offered what I consider to be the most straightforward translation for 'っけ', here I go:
When added at the end of a question (usually a rhetoric one), the closest equivalent in English would be to add "... again?" at the end. E.g:
なんですか？ → What is it?
なんだっけ → What is it again?
どこですか？ → Where is it?
どこだっけ → Where is it ...
2
The difference is more or less whether you're using casual forms or polite forms. With polite forms like your example question, it's a straightforward question. With a casual form like 今何時か it might be seen a little rude, or that you're expressing surprise/frustration.
In casual speech if you want to ask a straightforward question you should use the rising ...
2
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。
This sentence is correct only in limited contexts.
It states the definite fact that the father got surprised. As Derek Schaab stated in this answer accurately,
Japanese has a curious unwritten rule which states, in essence, that you cannot presume to know the intimate details of a third person's mental state.
...
2
This 〜ようだ means "it seems", and means you are making the statement as conjecture based on some kind of information. The first sentence says "It seems he was surprised by how difficult the course was". You might say this after seeing him confusingly tinkering around with the camera even after the course. If you leave off 〜ようだ, it's saying that he was ...
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