This is the last lesson in the interrogative sentence section. You have already completed how to make closed, open, and negative questions, and how to respond to them. Here, you will learn how to use question words outside of wh-questions.
Explanation for How Question Words Work Outside of Wh-questions
The number of the usages of question words in Japanese is less than English. Thus, it’s not a good idea if you try to translate something with related question words from English into Japanese. Let’s learn Japanese as it is.
Question Words + か
| 何か | pronoun | something |
| 誰か どなたか |
pronoun | someone |
| どこか | pronoun | somewhere |
| どれか | pronoun | one (of the three or more) |
| どっちか どちらか |
pronoun | one way (of the two) |
| どうか | adverb | somehow |
| なぜか どうしてか なんでか |
adverb | for some reasons |
| いつか | adverb | sometimes, someday |
| いくつか | adverb | some number |
| いくらか | adverb | some amount |
When you use question words with か, you can express unspecified things like “something” and “someone.” You can consider “question word + か” as one word. The parts of speech are determined by the original question words. Be careful. You cannot use adverbs for subjects, objects, and complements. Here are some examples.
| この文章は | 何かが | おかしい（です） |
| Topic | Subject | Predicate |
| As for this sentence, something is wrong. | ||
| [私は] | どちらかを | 買う / 買います |
| [Topic/Subject] | Object | Verb |
| [I will] buy one of them. | ||
| [私は] | [あなたに] | どうか | 頼む / 頼みます |
| [Topic/Subject] | [Target] | Adverb | Verb |
| [I] beg [you] please. (Lit. I somehow request you.) *This is a set phrase to make a strong and polite request. |
|||
| [私は] | いつか | 日本に | 行く / 行きます |
| Topic/Subject | Adverb | Destination | Verb |
| [I will] go to Japan someday. | |||
Omission
When the particle が or を is placed after “question words + か,” the particles are often omitted. Thus, you need to guess the functions based on the contexts. The following sentences are very natural.
| この文章は何かがおかしい（です）。 |
| どちらかを（買う / 買います）。 |
Don’t be confused with the following examples. You need to pay attention to the omission especially when you make interrogative sentences. They look similar, however, the first example is a closed question while the second one is an open question.
| 誰かが来る（の / んですか）？ Will someone come? |
| 誰が来る（の / んですか）？ Who will come? |
Description
You can add descriptions with “question words + か” as you can do it in English, e.g. “to drink something cold.” The difference is that only nouns or noun phrases can be placed in Japanese.
| 何か飲み物を（買う / 買います）。 [I will] buy something to drink. |
| どこか遠くに（行く / 行きます）。 [I will] go to somewhere far. |
Question Words + も + Negative Form
| 何も | pronoun | nothing, anything |
| 誰も どなたも |
pronoun | nobody, anybody |
| どこも | pronoun | nowhere, anywhere |
| どれも*1 | pronoun | all (of the three or more) |
| どっちも*1 どちらも*1 |
pronoun | both way (of the two) |
| どうも*2 | adverb | somehow |
どうしても*1 なんでも*4 |
adverb | no matter what |
| いつも*1 | adverb | always or never (with negative verbs) |
| いくつも*5 | adverb | few number |
| いくらも*5 | adverb | small amount |
- Note
- *1 They can be used in affirmative sentences.
- *2 This is used in negative sentences, but doesn’t indicate complete negation.
- *3 This doesn’t make sense and is not said in Japanese.
- *4 This works in a different function.
- *5 These are uncommon expressions.
When you use question words with も, you can express complete negation with some exceptions as the note shows. Grammatically, you can consider the も as the focus particle も. Thus, when you use も with the particle が and を, you replace も with them.
| [私は] | 何も | 嬉しく（ない / ありません） |
| [Topic/Subject] | Object of Emotion | Predicate |
| [I’m] not happy at all. | ||
| [私は] | どっちも | 食べない / 食べません |
| [Topic/Subject] | Direct Object | Verb |
| [I] won't eat both of them. | ||
Now, let’s think about cases where other particles such as に, へ, and と, are used. Unlike the above usages, you need to combine these particles with も.
| [私は] | どこへも | 行かない / 行きません |
| [Topic/Subject] | Destination | Verb |
| [I] won’t go anywhere. | ||
| [私は] | 誰とも | 話さない / 話しません |
| [Topic/Subject] | Partner of Interaction | Verb |
| [I] won’t talk with anyone. | ||
| 友達の秘密は | [私は] | 誰にも | 言わない / 言いません |
| Topic | [Subject/Contrast] | Target | Verb |
| As for [my] friend’s secret, [I] won’t tell [it] to anyone. | |||
Question Words in a Noun Clause
| どう | 勉強するか | が | 大切（だ / です） |
| Adverb | Verb + か | Particle | |
| Noun Clause: Subject | Predicate | ||
| How to study is important. | |||
The structure of noun clauses with question words is like this: “question word + some elements + か + particle.” Elements can be placed before question words, but “か + particle” is always placed at the end. Note: when you connect nouns and na-adjectives with か, don’t attach だ or です. Here are more examples:
| どんな人かを説明（する / します）よ。 [I] will explain what kind of person [he/she] is. |
| 値段がいくらかは大切じゃない（です）。 As for how much the price is, [it] is not important. |
| いつ着くかが（わからない / わかりません）。 [I] don’t know when [I] will arrive. |
Again, when the particle が and を are placed in this formation, they are often omitted.
| どんな人かを説明（する / します）よ。 |
| 値段がいくらかは大切じゃない（です）。 |
| いつ着くかが（わからない / わかりません）。 |
You can use the explanatory のだ in noun clauses. However, んだ cannot be used in this context even if you speak casually. The formality will be determined by the end of sentences.
| どんな人なのかを説明（する / します）よ。 |
| 値段がいくらなのかは大切じゃない（です）。 |
| いつ着くのかが（わからない / わかりません）。 |
Expressing “Whether” in Japanese
| 雨が | 降るかどうか | を | 調べる / 調べます |
| Subject | Verb + かどうか | Particle | |
| Noun Clause: Object | Verb | ||
| [I will] check whether it will rain or not. | |||
By placing …かどうか before particles, you can express “whether” in Japanese. The noun clauses indicate that there are two options and thus question words usually don’t appear. Take a look at some examples.
| 実験が成功するかどうかを試します。 [I'll] test out whether the experiment will succeed. |
| 金持ちかどうかは関係ないです。 As for whether [he is] rich or not, [it] is irrelevant. |
| 値段が高いかどうかは大切じゃないです。 As for whether the price is high, [it] is not important. |
You can reword …かどうか with the sentence pattern:“…か…か.” In this pattern, you can use the related negative form or the antonyms. We can say that the following examples have virtually the same meaning.
| 値段が高いかどうかは大切じゃないです。 |
| 値段が高いか高くないかは大切じゃないです。 |
| 値段が高いか安いかは大切じゃないです。 |
Omission
The particle が and を are often omitted. It’s important to guess the functions based on the contexts.
| 実験が成功するかどうかを試します。 |
| 金持ちかどうかは関係ないです。 |
| 値段が高いか高くないかは大切じゃないです。 |
In colloquial expressions, どうか can be omitted while the sentence pattern: “…か…か” cannot be omitted.
| 実験が成功するかどうかを試します。 |
| 金持ちかどうかは関係ないです。 |
| 値段が高いか高くないかは大切じゃないです。 |
Summary
- “Question words + か” expresses unspecified things, e.g. “something.”
- “Question words + も” expresses complete negation with some exceptions.
- “Question words + some elements + か + particle” makes a noun clause.
- “…かどうか” and “…か…か” expresses “whether” in Japanese.
This is kind of a utilization of what you learned in the interrogative sentence section. We were unable to show examples for all of the question words due to the length of the article. However, if you understand the functions of question words, you can certainly compose proper sentences.
