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- "Shall I make something?"
"Shall I make something?"
Translation:何かつくりましょうか？
56 Comments
The word 何か means "something," as opposed to 何 by itself meaning "what." Other question words can also be modified with か in this way. To name a few examples:
どこ=where, どこか=somewhere
いつ=when, いつか=someday
だれ=who, だれか=someone
なぜ=why, なぜか=for some reason
What would be the difference between "nanika" and "nanimo" etc.? (And also if someone could explain me how I can write in japanese on duolingo that'd be great :) )
Regarding the difference between なにか and なにも, I'll copy @KagayakuSeiza's example above and add to it.
どこ=where, どこか=somewhere; どこも = everywhere/anywhere (with a positive verb) or nowhere (with a negative verb)
いつ=when, いつか=someday; いつも = always, every time (with a positive verb) or never (with a negative verb)
だれ=who, だれか=someone; だれも = everyone/anyone (with a positive verb) or nobody/no one (with a negative verb)
And for your specific question:
なに = what; なにか = something; なにも = anything/everything (with a positive verb) or nothing (with a negative verb)
This is a really late comment and you probably figured it out by now, but if you go to settings on whatever device you use and type in "keyboard", you'll be able to find the keyboard settings and add a Japanese keyboard.
Or for more detailed instructions: https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/how-to-install-japanese-keyboard/
Why is it incorrect to use the direct object particle (を) like 何かをつくりましょうか？
that's what i thought it should be since it's mashou and not masu, I've always heard mashou as being we.
Dang it. I was supposed to translate into japanese with the cards, and I would have got it, but I missed a [う] after [ましょ] :S Tricky of them to split that apart
Sneaky, but I think they should do that a lot more, break them up, give them as individual characters, give similar looking blocks. I find it's too easy to grab the right card while only actually having learned the first character in a word. Being able to increase the difficulty as you go along would be great!
I'd like to pose another question related to this - why is を not in the original sentence? I would expect something to be marked with を since it is the object of the verb. Why can it be omitted?
My question is why should it be accepted? 何か is an adverb, so it does not take a particle, and it cannot be the object of the sentence as far as I'm aware. Is there some kind of exception with this, or just another rule that I am not aware of?
Why isn't 作りません (つくりません) used here instead of 作りましょう? Isn't -ません usually used when offering or suggesting something? I thought -ましょう would mean "Shall we make something?". Can someone explain this to me?
the difference between using ませんか？ and ましょうか？ is the expectation of the speaker. If someone is unsure of the response then they will probably use ませんか？... 「何かを作りませんか？」sounds like a soft invitation where the speaker doesn't know the answer, it's more polite and less direct, "do you want to make something?"... while「何かを作りましょうか？」it's more like the speaker knows the answer and is trying to give it a push, "shall we make something?" in English is a good translation for this feeling.
also「何かを作りましょうか？」can be translated to both "Should I make something?" and "Should we make something".
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Wouldn't this translate more directly as "Shall WE make something?" Otherwise the sentence would end with 作りますか rather than 作りましょうか, would it not?
「何かを作りましょうか？」can be translated as "Should I make something?" or "Should we make something". This is understood by context.
「何かを作りますか？」"will you make something?"
If it's a chore, this ambiguity seems like something that would get me in trouble with my wife for presuming whether it was something I would do alone or that we would do together. How would I be more clear about who will participate?
No, mashou is the volitional verb form, and it doesn't change for singular or plural.
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Am I the only one who kept getting this wrong because I thought it was the particle が ga and not 何か (meaning something)
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So after saying "Shall I make something?" and the listener agrees, how would one say "What shall I make?" Would you just change か to...な?
Then it would be 何を作りましょうか : "What - direct object particle - shall make - ?"
To make the plain volitional form, you change the last う sound to an おう for godan verbs, and for ichidan verbs you get rid of the る and add よう。From there you add か to make it a question (shall I). For example, 作る would become 作ろう、as it is a godan verb, but 食べる would become 食べよう、as it is an ichidan verb.
Another poster challenged the use of 「何かを」but then deleted their comments and my replies. There are other comments on this page which also express some confusion about this construction.
For reference, 何か is a collocation which acts as either a pronoun or adverb, and can be used either with or without particles such as を and が depending on how it is used.
Here are some colloquial examples of the「何かを」construction:
1) 何かをやるのに遅いということは決してない A book on Amazon Japan from an established publisher
2) 君が何かを企んでいても A song by the idol group SMAP
3) 何かを作りたい！クリエイティブな芸術系の趣味１０１個まとめ A blog post
And here are links to two dictionary definitions, with further examples of 何か being used with particles:
The Jisho.org definition lists 何か as being an adverb only, however, on the same page one can see 何か being used with particles in phrases such as 「何かと言うと」.
