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Japanese Lesson 37: Interrogative Sentences part 2
Vocabulary
When: Itsu: いつ： 何時
Itsu can also be read "nan ji" or "nan toki" and literally means "what time"... You want to use "itsu" when asking when something is, and "nan ji" for "what time (is it)" .... and "nan toki" you may not hear often enough to be bothered with... but I suppose you can still keep your ears open for it
Who: Dare: だれ： 誰
What: Nani: なに： 何
Nani will actually be pronounced "nan" much more often than it will be pronounced "nani". "nani" is more of a "what?" like a "what did you say?" or "what?" like when someone walks up to you and you know they want something, or when asking what someone is doing. and "nan" is for everything else "what is that?" "what color is it?"
What color: Nanshoku: なんしょく： 何色
Examples will be much better at explaining this I think.
Sentences
What color is the dress?
Doresu wa nanshoku desu ka?
ドレス は なんしょく です か。
ドレスは何色ですか。
Who are you?
Anata wa dare desu ka?
あなた は だれ です か。
あなたは誰ですか。
Alternately:
Dare desu ka?
だれ です か。
誰ですか。
(remember you want to avoid pronouns as much as possible in Japanese)
What?
Nani ka?
なに か。
何か。
Alternately:
Nani?
なに。
何。
When is it?
Itsu desu ka?
いつ です か。
何時ですか。
What color is the skirt?
Suka-to wa nanshoku desu ka?
スカート は なんしょく です か。
スカートは何色ですか。
When?
Itsu desu ka?
いつ です か。
何時ですか。
Who is she?
Kanojo wa dare desu ka?
かのじょ は だれ です か。
彼女は誰ですか。
What is it?
Nan desu ka?
なん です か。
何ですか。
Who am I?
Watashi wa dare desu ka?
わたし は だれ です か。
私は誰ですか。
Alternately:
Watashi wa dare da?
わたし は だれ だ。
私は誰だ。
What color is the shirt?
Shatsu wa nanshoku desu ka？
シャツ は なんしょく です か。
シャツは何色ですか。
How'd you do? :)
Not too bad I hope.
See you next time!
17 Comments
Thank you very much again! BTW, your Jibun lesson really helped me, just got through reading it!
Recently I learned that どなた is more polite than だれ. But どなたですか usually translate to "who is it" so I'm not sure...
Btw, thank you and I really appreciate your effort for making these lessons!
どうもありがとうございます！
I uh, actually don't know the word どなた but I am aware that だれ isn't the most polite way to express "who is that" by any means. :3
Oh, I see, sorry... Well, I actually learn about どなた from a textbook for learning Japanese (it's just a brief mention and explanation of it) :D
The lesson before this one isn't working for some reason. It keeps pulling up a page that says error 404.
:( That's weird. I pressed the previous and next buttons and lesson 36 shows up just fine... the coding was old on it (now that # doesn't do anything) So I changed that... but otherwise I'm not sure what might be wrong on your end. ... are you using mobile? :(
For the most part, I use my laptop but sometimes I use mobile and it won't work.
ok i updated the links. i made a new lesson 36. sorry for the trouble. i can still see the old post though Duo deleted it I guess?!?
What color is 何色ですか？ は なにいろですか？ です。 何色ですか？ なにいろですか？ 赤です あかです。
何色ですか？ なんしょくですか？ ２しょくです にしょくです。
Hello. I am reading through all your lessons. And sadly, Lesson 36, Interrogative Sentences part 1 is missing, Duo deleted it :(
AH! So that's what happened to it. :/ That's really weird because I can still see it on my end. I'll re-upload it and link it right now.
