Open & Close Questions

Like most languages, Japanese has open and close questions as well.

i) Closed Questions

regular sentence + か =  CLOSED question sentence

• Closed questions are answered with either YES or NO answer.

What we have seen in the last blog post are examples of closed questions.

Example:
ロバートさんはアメリカじんですか。(Robaato-san wa Amerika-jin desu ka)
 Is Robert an American?
はい/いいえ。 (Hai/Iie)
 Yes/No

ii) Opened Questions

• Opened questions are mainly "What","Why", "Where", "Why" and "How".
• We will concentrate on "What" for now. This involve using なに (nani) and なん (nan)

 

a) なに (nani)

> > Use before a particle

Example:
なにが好きですか。(Nani ga suki desu ka)
 What do you like?

なにがだいきらいですか。 (Nani ga daikirai desu ka)
 What do you hate the most?

> > Use in combination with other words

Example: 
なにいろが好きですか。(Nani iro ga suki desu ka)
 What colour do you like?

ロバートさんはなにじんですか。(Robaato-san wa nanijin desu ka)
 What is Robert's nationality?
Note:  なにじん (nanijin) is often used to ask the nationality of a person.

b) なん (nan)

>> Immediately before です(desu)

Example:
せんもんはなんですか。(Senmon wa nan desu ka)
 What is your major?

これはなんですか。(Kore wa nan desu ka)
 What is this?

>> Before the particulars の (no) and で (de)
Note: we will explore further on these particle in the coming blog post. But for now, just read on.

Example:
今日はなんの日ですか。(Kyou wa nan no hi desu ka)
 What day is today?

なんで日本語をべんきょうしますか。 (Nan de nihongo wo benkyou shimasu ka)
How do you study Japanese language?

>> Before a counter

Example:
今はなんじですか。(Ima wa nan-ji desu ka)
 What time is it now?

あなたはなんさいですか。(Anata wa nansai desu ka)
 What is your age?

---

Vocabulary たんご 

はい		hai	yes
いいえ		iie	no
アメリカ		Amerika	United States of America
好き	すき	suki	like
嫌い	きらい	kirai	hate
色	いろ	iro	colour
専門	せんもん	senmon	major, specialty
日本語	にほんご	nihongo	Japanese language
勉強	べんきょう	benkyou	to study
あなた		anata	you
～歳	～さい	~sai	~years old, age

～か (ka)

This is one of the easiest Japanese grammar I have learned.

• Just by adding a か to the end of any sentence will make it into a question sentence.
• And there is no need for a question mark (?) after か

regular sentence + か = question sentence

Examples:
トムさんは大学生です。(Tomu-san wa daigakusei desu)
 Tom is a high school student.
トムさんは大学生ですか。(Tomu-san wa daigakusei desu ka)
 (Is) Tom a high school student?

あしたはやすみです。(ashita wa yasumi desu)
 Tomorrow is a holiday.
あしたはやすみですか。(ashita wa yasumi desu ka)
 (Is) Tomorrow a holiday?

メリーはトムさんのかのじょです。(Merii-san wa Tomu-san no kanojo desu)
 Mary is Tom's girlfriend.
メリーはトムさんのかのじょですか。(Merii-san wa Tomu-san no kanojo desu ka)
 (Is) Mary Tom's girlfriend?

８００円です。(800en desu)
 It is 800 yen.
８００円ですか。(800en desu ka)
 (Is) it 800 yen?

---

Vocabulary たんご 

大学	だいがく	daigaku	university or college
大学生	だいがくせい	daigakusei	university or college student
明日	あした	ashita	tomorrow
彼女	かのじょ	kanojo	her, she, girlfriend
休み	やすみ	yasumi	recess, rest, holiday, vacation