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Recently, I've been studying about family terms and how to ask where they live, how many siblings, or what do they do. There is a question in one of my worksheets that involves writing it in hiragana.

The question is: “Ask if Mika lives with her parents”

I know the ending would be 「にすんでいるんです。」

I know the verb for to live is 「すむ」 and in て+いる form it's 「すんでいるんです」 with に as the particle because it has something to do with a place.

So, I wrote

みかーさん、ごりょうしんもいっしょにすんでいるんですか。

I know the last part translates to “...is living together”, but that sentence is more like “Mika, does your parents also live together?” Not “Mika, do you live with your parents?” I've tried looking into my textbooks, but none of them have an example sentence.

I'm just confused about how to completely write the sentence.

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  • Have you learned the particle と at all yet?
    – ssb
    Jan 28, 2015 at 3:55
  • @ssb isn't particle と mean and? I have learned it last semester. I'm taking an oral communication class, so I don't have to learn Kanji :).
    – usukidoll
    Jan 28, 2015 at 4:18
  • Oh now I remember! と is also used for when you doing something with someone. Like I am going to the movies with my friend would be わたしはともだちとえいがへいくんです。
    – usukidoll
    Jan 28, 2015 at 5:21

1 Answer 1

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“do you live with your parents?”

Literal translation
"do you" > "あなたはXXXですか"
"live with" > "と一緒に住む"
"your parents" > "あなたの両親"

"あなたはあなたの両親と一緒に住むですか?" <- strange...
"あなたはあなたの両親と一緒に住んでいますか?" <- "あなたの" little redundant
"あなたは両親と一緒に住んでいますか?" <- Literal translation
"あなたはりょうしんといっしょにすんでいますか?" <- in Hiragana

In general
"あなたは" > "みか-さん"(Mika)
"両親" > "ご両親" <- Polite language
"一緒住む" = "同居する"
"一緒に住んでいますか" > "同居なされているのですか" <- Polite language

"みかさんはご両親と同居なされているのですか?" <- in general
"みかさんはごりょうしんとどうきょなされているのですか?" <- in Hiragana

Note(supplement):

"お前親と一緒に住んでんの?" <- close friends (rudely)
"おまえおやといっしょにすんでんの?" <- in Hiragana

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  • That's great, but what if I am not allowed to use あなた because from what I was told last semester, using あなた is rude for conversational.
    – usukidoll
    Jan 28, 2015 at 5:12
  • Also in English "live with" should be thought of as a single unit (though I see why you're wanting to split it here).
    – virmaior
    Jan 28, 2015 at 5:57
  • ↑&↑↑, my answer fixed.
    – M.I.A
    Jan 28, 2015 at 8:13

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