Basic Japanese Questions: How to Easily Ask and Answer

While at the beginner level of a language, it often happens to us where we don’t know what we are asked. Sometimes, we meet new people, and they try to ask basic questions. However, they’re not aware of our personal level so sometimes the line of questions gets difficult. At some point, we are left with an awkward silence in the conversation and wonder ‘I wish I could understand what he/she said!’. So how to ask basic Japanese questions?

For such happenings, there are some small observations that can help us comprehend the situation. Let’s think about WH words: who, what, where, when, and why. In English, from these WH words, we can somewhat imagine what the person will ask, even before he completes his sentence, right? It’s the same for the Japanese. They also have their own WH words! Luckily, they use them in the first part of the sentence as well.

In this guide, we will see how to ask and answer basic questions in Japanese, following the WH words.

1. Who: 誰・だれ

First of all, “who” is dare ・ だれ. Use it to refer to people, without a distinction in gender or number.

In addition, remember the word donata・どなた, which is its formal counterpart. Here are some examples:

After だれ and どなた, you can add particles to create interrogative pronouns or other parts of the speech you need to be more specific.

If you are a beginner and don’t know how important they are, check this article about how to use the main Japanese particles.

2. What: 何・なに

This is probably the most popular Japanese word in the world, due to Kenshiro’s famous sentence: 「お前はもう死んでいる」　「何⁉」(omaewa mou shindeiru – Nani!? ・ You’re already dead. – What!?)

However, this interrogative adverb has 2 pronunciations, depending on what follows it: Nan / Nani. Use it to refer to objects and animals, without distinction in gender or number.

3. Where: どこ

どこ (doko): If you can pick the word どこ from someone’s question, it means they’re asking for a location. It can be about you, or something around you, or related to you. Additionally, you can also use this to ask about location in times of need.

4. When: いつ

いつ (itsu) is pretty easy too. It means “when”, and can be followed only by a few particles. For example, いつか – itsuka, means “some time”, or it can refer to something that is already done once (before, once). いつでも – itsudemo, means “always, any time”.

5. Why: なぜ・どうして

Finally, the last WH word. なぜ (naze) is the one to ask “Why”.

As you can see, there’s no need for a word to say “because” in the answer. However, be careful to the other “why” word: どうして.

In fact, どうして (doushite) has 2 meanings: can you guess the slight difference from the context?

• the first one is “why”, and is used as なぜ, but more in the speaking.
• the second meaning is “how”.

In conclusion, just like these, from observing what the other person is saying we can detect the WH word and guess what they’re asking when we only know the meaning for some fragments of the sentence. However, it doesn’t mean we can always guess right, for that practicing sentence making, conversing, and learning new words are a must.

Thank you for reading!

Author: Valeria (graduated at Ca’Foscari University Japanese Studies)