Linguaか turns any sentence into a question
Japanese does not move words around to ask something. Put か at the end and the sentence becomes a question: がくせいです turns into がくせいですか with nothing else touched. The voice rises a little, and in writing a question mark is optional – か is doing the work. This is the same か in every question you will ever build, at every level of the language.
| Statement | Question | Negative |
|---|---|---|
| がくせいです | がくせいですか | がくせいじゃありません |
| にほんじんです | にほんじんですか | にほんじんじゃありません |
| いしゃです | いしゃですか | いしゃじゃありません |
じゃありません is the whole negative
To deny a noun sentence, replace です with じゃありません. Nothing else changes and nothing extra is added. The fuller ではありません is the same words in a more formal shape and belongs to writing and to speeches; in conversation じゃありません is what you will hear. Answering a question, Japanese prefers いいえ、ちがいます to a flat denial: it corrects the guess rather than the person.
キムさんはがくせいですかAre you a student, Mr Kim?
いいえ、がくせいじゃありませんNo, I am not a student.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| か | question marker | あなたはがくせいですか Are you a student? |
| じゃありません | is not | わたしはいしゃじゃありません I am not a doctor. |
| も | too, also | わたしもがくせいです I am a student too. |
| そうです | that is so | ええ、そうです Yes, that is so. |
| ちがいます | that is not right | それはちがいます That is not right. |
| なん | what | これはなんですか What is this? |
| だれ | who | だれのかばんですか Whose bag is it? |
| せんもん | field of study | せんもんはにほんごです My field of study is Japanese. |
| なまえ | name | おなまえはなんですか What is your name? |
| くに | country | おくにはどちらですか Which country are you from? |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which of these asks whether the person is a student?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.