Learn Japanese

Step 4

Let's learn how to make a question.
In Japanese language, we have a question marker which is "ka?".

Sore

keitai

desu ka?

Sore wa keitai desu ka?

Is that a mobile phone?

Ee.

Kore

keitai

desu

Ee. Kore wa keitai desu.

Yes. This is a mobile phone.

Iie.

Kore

keitai

janai desu

Iie. Kore wa keitai janai desu.

No. This is not a mobile phone.

Grammar Notes

Sore means "that".
There are three words correspond to "This" or "That" in Japanese langauge.
It is Kore, sore and are. The usage of it is as follows;

Kore	indicates a thing or things near the speaker.
Sore	indicates a thing or things near the listener.
Are	indicates a thing or things far from both, speaker and listener.

Ka? is the question marker.
Ka added to the end of a sentence makes the sentence into a question.
The word order does not change.

Ee means "Yes" and Iie means "No".
There is another word meaning "Yes". It is Hai.
Hai is more formal than Ee.
In daily conversation, people normally use Ee. So we take it here.

Practice 1

Let's practice the following words.

	hai	Yes
	ee	Yes
	iie	No
	gakkoo	school
	hoteru	hotel
	biiru	beer
	Nihongo	Japanese language

Practice 2

Let's make sentences and speak it.

	Are wa gakkoo desu ka?
	Is that a school?
	Ee. Are wa gakkoo desu.
	Yes. It is a school.
	Kore wa Nihon no biiru desu ka?
	Is this Japanese beer?
	Ee. Sore wa Nihon no biiru desu.
	Yes. It is Japanese beer.
	Sore wa Nihongo no jisho desu ka?
	Is that a Japanese dictionary.
	Iie. Kore wa Nihongo no jisho janai desu.
	No. This is not a Japanese dictionary.
	Are wa hoteru desu ka?
	Is that a hotel?
	Iie. Are wa hoteru janai desu. Are wa depaato desu.
	No. It is not a hotel. It is a department store.

Making questions with "What" and "Where", "What is this?"

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Basic Japanese
Building Up Conversation (Online learning material)

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Essential Japanese Verbs

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