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Teach Us, Teacher

Sentences for asking questions (Lesson 2)

When we ask questions in Japanese, we don’t change the word order. You just simply add the particle, KA at the end of sentences, and add a rising intonation. So, adding KA to the sentence KORE WA OMIYAGE DESU (This is a souvenir) becomes KORE WA OMIYAGE DESU KA (Is this a souvenir?)

Now, double-check an affirmative sentence and a question.

KORE WA OMIYAGE DESU. (This is a souvenir.)
KORE WA OMIYAGE DESU KA. (Is this a souvenir?) And when you don’t know what something that's right in front of you, and you want to ask what it is, you'd say KORE WA NAN DESU KA. (What is this?)
You can also use NAN (what) to ask time by adding JI (time) to it. So, you say NANJI DESU KA. (What time is it?) Also, you can ask how many people there are by saying NAN with NIN, which means the number of people, and say NANNIN DESU KA. (How many people are there?)
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