Japanese grammar
What does ～か（question） mean? Japanese grammar N5
～か（question） means ~, right? (turns a statement into a question).
| Level (estimated, JLPT framework) | N5 |
|---|---|
| Structure | sentence + か |
| Romaji | ~ ka |
| Meaning | ~, right? (turns a statement into a question) |
How to use it
Adding か to the end of a sentence turns it into a polite question.
- か at the end of a sentence turns a statement into a question. There's NO need to invert word order like in English.
- Written Japanese normally doesn't use a "?" mark — か alone is enough. The punctuation stays 。
- When answering: はい (yes/that's right) or いいえ (no).
Examples
田中さんは学生ですか。
Is Mr. Tanaka a student?
コーヒーを飲みますか。
Will you drink coffee?
Keep in mind
- In casual conversation, dropping か and raising your intonation at the end is enough.
Common mistakes
-
Wrongですかあなたは学生？
Correctあなたは学生ですか。
か always comes at the END of the sentence — it's not moved to the front like in English.
-
Wrong田中さんは学生だですか。
Correct田中さんは学生ですか。
だ and です are both copulas, so they aren't stacked. A polite question is noun + ですか.
-
Wrongコーヒーを飲むですか。
Correctコーヒーを飲みますか。
A verb's dictionary form doesn't combine with です. A polite question uses the ます form plus か.