Grammar Labs
Lesson 7 of 8
Question Words — なに, だれ, どこ, いつ, いくら, どう
about 8 minutes
After this lesson you can
- Choose the right question word for the piece of information you are missing.
- Build a polite question by putting a question word into a sentence you already know.
Words this lesson teaches
- なに
- what
- だれ
- who
- どこ
- where
- いつ
- when
- どう
- how; how is it
- どちら
- which one; where (polite)
What it explains
A question is a statement with a hole in it
Japanese does not reorder anything to ask. You take the sentence you would say if you knew the answer, put the question word where the missing piece goes, and add か at the end. えきに いきます becomes どこに いきますか. This is why questions get easier the more statements you can already make.
Asking a stranger, rather than a friend
A bare question word can land abruptly on someone you have never met, so すみません goes in front of it and does most of the softening on its own. どちら in place of どこ raises the politeness a further step and is what you will hear at a counter or a reception desk. Neither changes the grammar; both change how the question feels to receive.