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For instance, if I wanted to ask if a food was tasty, I want to know all linguistic options that I have and, preferably, the nuances between them. These are all the short, potentially appropriate answers that I can think of at the moment, but I do not really understand them:

  • 食べ物が美味しさですか?
  • 食べ物が美味しいんですか?
  • 美味しい食べ物ですか?
  • 食べ物の美味しさがありますか?
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  • Did you make these sentences yourself? Sep 2, 2021 at 17:35
  • @user3856370 I did.
    – wanwandrew
    Sep 2, 2021 at 17:36

2 Answers 2

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Let's look at each of your sample sentences in turn.

食べ物が美味しさですか?

Breaking this down word for word:

  • [食]{た}べ[物]{もの}
    eating-thing → food

  • [subject particle]
  • [美味しさ]{おいしさ}
    deliciousness (as a degree or amount)
  • です
    [copula]: is, are
  • か?
    [question marker]

Putting this together:

食べ物が美味しさですか?
Is food [a degree of] deliciousness?

That doesn't make a lot of sense, but I suppose it might be a valid question, perhaps in a philosophical or epistemological context. :)

食べ物が美味しいんですか?

  • [食]{た}べ[物]{もの}
    food

  • [subject particle]
  • [美味しい]{おいしい}
    delicious

  • contraction of の. In questions, adds a nuance shift a bit like the change from "is it X?" to "is it that X is the case?"
  • です
    [copula]: is, are
  • か?
    [question marker]

Putting this together:

食べ物が美味しいんですか?
Is it that food is delicious?

Depending on the context, this could be a reasonable question.

美味しい食べ物ですか?

  • [美味しい]{おいしい}
    delicious
  • [食]{た}べ[物]{もの}
    food
  • です
    [copula]: is, are
  • か?
    [question marker]

Putting this together:

美味しい食べ物ですか?
Is [it / this] delicious food?

Depending on the context, this could also be a reasonable question.

食べ物の美味しさがありますか?

  • [食]{た}べ[物]{もの}
    food

  • [possessive particle]
  • [美味しさ]{おいしさ}
    deliciousness (as a degree or amount)

  • [subject particle]
  • あります
    there is / there are (or in questions, is there / are there)
  • か?
    [question marker]

Putting this together:

食べ物の美味しさがありますか?
Is there the food's deliciousness?

This doesn't make much sense either.


I hope the word-for-word breakdowns help you understand these word forms and structures better.

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  • 2
    食べ物の美味しさがありますか might make sense, say, when you are seeing something that is supposed to be "food" but looks to you like tasteless clay.
    – naruto
    Sep 2, 2021 at 23:39
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Let's look at your sentences and explore their meaning.

食べ物が美味しさですか

This says, "Is the food tastiness?" I don't think that's what you want to say.

食べ物が美味しいんですか

This could possibly work, but it still sounds a bit off to me. (But, I'm not a native speaker.) What strikes me odd here is the use of the particle が. Had you written it as

食べ物は美味しいんですか

to my non-native ear, that sounds better.

美味しい食べ物ですか

This just says, "Is it tasty food?" This sounds perfectly fine; perhaps this works for you. But, is it really saying what you want? For example,

日本料理はおいしい食べ物ですか

"Is Japanese cuisine tasty food?" That could make sense.

食べ物の美味しさがありますか

This sounds kind of weird, "Do you have the tastiness of food?"

This one you could probably change a bit, to

食べ物は美味しさがありますか

"Does this food have any taste to it?" Perhaps you think the food is too bland.


Probably what you want to ask is just

食べ物はおいしいですか

"Is the food tasty?"

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  • 1
    I wrote almost exactly the same answer as you then didn't post it because I had the same doubt about が in 食べ物が美味しいんですか that you have. I could imagine contexts where が seemed like the right choice to me but I'm sure they weren't what the OP intended. It would be good to have a native/fluent speaker's input. Sep 2, 2021 at 21:13
  • 3
    @user3856370: 食べ物が美味しいんですか could be a valid question when you want to know, for example, whether the food is the reason for choosing a particular hotel or travel destination. 食べ物は美味しいんですか sounds like you are specifically asking about the food in that place, like "How about the food? Is it good?" There may be something negative about that place and you may want to know if at least the food is good. I would say 料理 in both cases, though. While 美味しい食べ物ですか and 食べ物は美味しさがありますか may be perfectly grammatical, I would probably never say either of them under any circumstance.
    – aguijonazo
    Sep 3, 2021 at 0:20

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