"What will we do today?"
Translation:今日は何をしますか？
47 Comments
106
In traditional Japanese, there is no ？ or ！, only 。 and 、, and the final particle か already indicates that the sentence is a question.
In my Japanese grammar study book it says a question mark is used when the か question particle is not. You can ask someone their name by saying
名前は?
(Your) name?
There is no か particle there so the question mark is used. If you asked it slightly more polite I think it would be
お名前は何ですか。
The か acting as the question mark so they use 。to end the sentence.
- 183
I feel more comfortable with は being dropped. One thing that confuses me is that in the English translation, technically the invisible dropped 'we' is the subject, not today 今日. So if you did not drop the subject 私達は, you would have two は ie (今日 は、 私達は 何を しますか. Can someone explain? I know that "Today" can be a subject (eg 今日は暑いToday is hot) but in this sentence, 今日 acts more as an adverb of time.
- 183
Ahh, sorry - I read a few comments way below that says that は does not necessarily mark the subject but the topic. So if you drop the subject (ie 'we'), you can use the adverb of time as your topic.
- 106
する is the verb "do" and します is the polite form. Nothing to do with timing. ます itself couples with the verb in Renyou-form to become the polite form. In this case し is the Renyou-form of する.
何を今日はしますか。 isnt correct? isnt the whole point of particles that u can move things around? or must を come directly before a verb?
The topic (marked by は) is usually first, especially if it is a mention of time as it is here. Then the "neutral" word order is to have the object (marked by を) immediately before the verb. If you put anything else between them, that gets emphasized: "Yes, yes, but what shall we do today?" (and I suspect putting the topic there makes it especially odd). You can read more about this at https://8020japanese.com/japanese-word-order/
No. は does not (necessarily) indicate what the subject of the sentence is. It indicates the topic, which can be other parts of the sentence as well. It means more something like "As for today, what will we (or I or you, depends on context) do?".
- 65
I'm wondering this too. I think しましょう isn't necessary per se, but is it also fine to use in this way, or does it sound off?
Why does this refer to "we" instead of "you/I"? Why isn't it something like 今日は何をしましょうか？
- 106
The subject can also be you or I in this sentence. It is not necessary to use しましょう to make the subject "we"
- 106
は is for putting up 今日 as the topic and を is to make 何 as the direct object of します
if you wanted to be more specific with wanting to say "we" would it have to be at the very start of the sentence? or could it go right before the verb?
kyou wa nani ga watashitachi shimasu ka? (sorry no JP keyboard.)
That sentence makes sense to me.
Like saying,
As of today, What will we do?
- 106
Typically the topic is placed at the beginning. But it has some flexablilies.
- 今日は 私たちが 何を しますか ok
- 私たちが 今日は 何を しますか ok
- 私たちが 何を 今日は しますか unnatural
I think as long as the direct object sticks with the verb, other particle phrases can move around quite freely.
- 106
Either it is a grammatically wrong sentence, or there is a person named 今日 (e.g. short for 今日子(きょうこ)) and it translates to "What will/does Kyou do?"
- 106
There has to be a subject particle after 私たち. It cannot be が because the question word is not the subject. So it must be は and the complete sentence is 今日は私たちは何をしますか (Although it is grammatically correct, it is not natural to include two は like this in the sentence, so either dropping the first は, or dropping the whole 私たち phrase altogether.)
the "we" part isn't clear for me. Is there a way to use 私たち to focus on the we part ? or is it irrevelant ?
I'm not 100% sure, but I would've said 今日は何をしましょうか to incorporate "we". But the ましょう form of ます hasn't been introduced yet.
- 106
If there is already an itinerary then it is -しますか. If the activity is not planned, then -しましょうか. Because しましょう has a nuance of inviting others to do something together. If it is planned, then it is unnatural to invite.
今日は私たちは何をしますか not accepted, indeed I can't find any answer using 私たち that is...
The answer should be "what will you do today". 何をしませんか is more appropriate to ask "what will we do today?" Or even better "Shall we do something today?"
- 106
何をしませんか does not make any sense to me. If it is necessary to separate the "we" from "you" then better put back the pronoun. e.g. "私たち、今日は何をしますか"
To say "shall we do something today," it is "今日は何かしませんか" or "今日は何かしましょうか"
今日は何をしましょうか - you put a ka where a wo ought to be. Is there a reason for that or is it a typo?
- 106
何か means "something"
何をしますか - What will you do?
何かしますか - Will you do something?
何をしませんか - (very unnaturally) What will you not do?
何かしませんか - Won't you do something?
- 100
Unnatural in English or Japanese? "What won't you do?" sounds possible..
