The Question Particle (か)

It is incredibly easy to turn a statement into a question in Japanese—all you need to do is add the particle か to the verb.

In formal writing, there is no need for the question mark (it never used to exist in Japanese) as か makes it clear that the sentence is a question; however, in most non-literary texts it will be in included.

If we change the verb to the negative then we can use か to make a suggestion or an invitation.

We can also add か to the standard form of the verb (this structure has a key grammatical function, as we shall see later); however, this is rarely a structure used to ask a question—it is too blunt. Instead, you will see の or なの added, depending on the sentence ending.

• の is used if the sentence ends in a verb or i-adjective
• なの is used if the sentence ends in a na-adjective or noun

In casual conversation you can also put make the question in statement form and let a change in intonation do the rest, e.g. “You going?”

Note that you will never hear this way of questioning used with the copula—either standard or polite.

ジョン　は　会計士かいけいし　だ？ (✘)
ジョン　は　会計士かいけいし　です？ (✘)