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The other day, I saw on a news site The Verge an image from the new Star Wars movie and it had a question without the question marker particle at the end:

screenshot

The question was:

どこから来たの? (Where are you from?)

I was expecting the particle か at the end.

Are these edge cases or are there patterns of questions that can omit the question marker ?

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  • Thanks for link to other question. Anyway to vote to close question or should I just delete it altogether ?
    – CuriousOne
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 14:56

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Questions in plain speech are usually without か. With it, they sound masculine and slightly rough. Questions in polite speech can also be without か, but to me that sounds slightly feminine unless there's a question word such as 何 or どう; in either case, it's more colloquial than a question with か.

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  • The other linked question says ending with の is used for interrogative or more curious than normal tone. So the only way to know when to leave out is familiarity or in other words live, breathe and dream in Japanese 24/7 :D ?
    – CuriousOne
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 16:04
  • @CuriousOne If you would use のですか/んですか in polite speech, you can use の in plain speech. Of course, that's probably only a little help.
    – Angelos
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 16:10
  • I see, no it's good insight, thanks for the extra clarification. I expect it to be with a slightly more question like trailing の sound rather than just flat の?
    – CuriousOne
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 16:14
  • @CuriousOne Yes, you'd generally rise the pitch, and the sound may be extended.
    – Angelos
    Commented Nov 8, 2015 at 17:27

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