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Japanese Question Words And Ka.?
I was watching a video in some Japanese, and a Japanese man answered the door and said nani. What confuses me is he didn't say ka. Can it be understood because of the question word? Thanks.
2 Answers
- Anonymous9 years ago
Yes, it can be understood. nani is a colloquialism for the word "what" For example: you can say "nani atteru?" and it will have the same meaning as "nani atteru no?" (what are you doing?). There are multiple ways to ask the same question in Japanese.
"nani?" -- what?
"nani ga [some adjective or verb]?" -- what is [some adjective or verb]?
going off of the one above:
"nani ga suki?" -- what do you like?
"nani ga sukidesu ka?" -- what do you like?
In the video you were watching, he was most likely using "nani" as a hybrid form of "doushita no?" (what's going on? / what's this about?) Adding words like "ka" at the end of a question add to the inquisitiveness of the question.
Source(s): It's a long story, but I live in Japan and have to deal with the cryptographic meaning behind what people say on a daily basis.