Reference sheet

Question words

Thirty-two ways to ask something, built from four stems, plus the こそあど grid that generates six of them and the two answers that arrive with them. Japanese, English and Modern Standard Arabic throughout. Made to print.

Taught in lesson 6 · readings from Jisho.org (JMdict) · sets after Tofugu

1.The four stems

Stem	Asks	Because
ど do	which?	There is a set in front of both of you and one member has to be picked out of it.
なに · なん nani · nan	what? how many?	There is no set. The field is open, or a number is wanted.
だれ dare	who?	Neither pattern. Its polite partner どなた does belong to a こそあど set.
い i	how many? how much? when?	Nothing is being identified at all. A number is wanted — いつ a time, いくつ a count, いくら a price.

2.The こそあど grid

Read across for an ending, down for a distance. The two are independent: こ is near the speaker, そ near the listener, あ away from both, and ど asks. Tap a cell to hear it.

This grid is rendered from assets/kosoado-data.js and needs JavaScript.

Two irregulars, both in the あ column and neither a question word: あそこ rather than あこ, and ああ rather than あう. One further set is left out because it needs the small っ: こっち · そっち · あっち · どっち, the casual contraction of the ちら row.

3.The thirty-four words

This list is rendered from assets/vocab6-data.js and needs JavaScript.

4.Seams worth knowing on their own

Eight of the thirty-four are a shorter word plus a piece of ordinary Japanese. The piece is worth more than the compound, because it is the piece that says what has to come next in the sentence.

Piece	Does	Makes	Then needs
の no	links two nouns — “of”	どこの · なんの · だれの doko no · nan no · dare no	a noun
いう iu	“saying” — asks a description	どういう dō iu	a noun
ぐらい gurai	“roughly, about”	どのぐらい dono gurai	nothing — です ends it
と to	“with”	だれと dare to	a verb
して shite	て-form of する, “to do”	どうして dōshite	a verb
やって yatte	て-form of やる, “to do”	どうやって dōyatte	a verb
で de	“by means of, with”	なんで nan de	nothing — です ends it
も mo	“also, even” — turns a question into “any”	いつも itsumo	nothing — it is an answer, not a question
かん kan	間, “the gap between” — a point becomes a stretch	なんじかん · なんしゅうかん · なんねんかん nanjikan · nanshūkan · nannenkan	nothing — です ends it

A の B is English “B of A”, so the question word comes first: どこのくるま, なんのほん. The three that want a verb are the three you cannot finish until verbs are taught — say だれとですか and borrow よみますか whole in the meantime.

Four words mean “why”, and they are not interchangeable. なぜ is the formal one and the only one that can never be misread (لِأَيِّ سَبَبٍ). どうして is the default, and it also means “in what manner” (لِمَاذَا). なんで is casual, and literally asks “by what means” (لِمَ). どうやって is not really one of them: it means only “by what method”, which is why it is the safe one (بِأَيِّ طَرِيقَةٍ).

The same thing in Arabic, back to front

Arabic glues a preposition to the front where Japanese glues a particle to the back. Five of the eight are the identical construction in mirror order.

Japanese	Arabic	Made of
どうして dōshite	لِمَاذَا	لِ + مَاذَا
どうやって dōyatte	بِأَيِّ طَرِيقَةٍ	بِ + أَيّ
どこの doko no	مِنْ أَيْنَ	مِنْ + أَيْنَ
だれと dare to	مَعَ مَنْ	مَعَ + مَنْ
なんで nan de	بِمَاذَا	بِ + مَاذَا

Each one in the moment it belongs to

Word	The moment	What you say
どうして dōshite	You want the reason	どうしてですか。 dōshite desu ka
どうやって dōyatte	You do not know how to work the thing in front of you	これはどうやってよみますか。 kore wa dōyatte yomimasu ka
どういう dō iu	A word or sign you do not understand	これはどういういみですか。 kore wa dō iu imi desu ka
どのぐらい dono gurai	You need an amount or a length of time	やすみはどのぐらいですか。 yasumi wa dono gurai desu ka
どこの doko no	You want to know where a thing came from	これはどこのくるまですか。 kore wa doko no kuruma desu ka
なんの nan no	You see the thing but not what it is about	これはなんのほんですか。 kore wa nan no hon desu ka
だれと dare to	You want to know who with	だれとですか。 dare to desu ka

5.なに or なん

Say	Before	Example
なん nan	any counter; です; any word starting with t, d or n	なんじ · なんですか · なんの nanji · nan desu ka · nan no
なに nani	a particle, or nothing at all	なに？ · なにが · なにを nani? · nani ga · nani o

t, d, n and ん are all made in the same place in the mouth, so なん is simply the form the tongue prefers. The counter clause is the only part that has to be held as a rule — なんかい takes なん despite the k.

6.The time series: a point, and a stretch

Japanese dates run year → month → day, so the top-to-bottom order here is also the order the words appear in a real sentence. The two columns are the other axis: the left asks which one, the right asks how long, and かん (間, “the gap between”) is what moves you across. Arabic draws the same line by swapping أَيُّ for كَمْ.

Unit	A point — أَيُّ	A stretch — كَمْ
year	なんねん nannenwhat year · أَيُّ سَنَةٍ	なんねんかん nannenkanhow many years · كَمْ سَنَةً
month	なんがつ nangatsuwhat month · أَيُّ شَهْرٍ	なんかげつ nankagetsuhow many months · كَمْ شَهْرًا — counter swaps, no かん
week	—	なんしゅうかん nanshūkanhow many weeks · كَمْ أُسْبُوعًا
day	なんにち nannichiwhat date · كَمْ يَوْمًا	なんにち nannichihow many days — the same word does both
weekday	なんようび nan'yōbiwhat day of the week · أَيُّ يَوْمٍ	—
hour	なんじ nanjiwhat time · كَمِ السَّاعَةُ	なんじかん nanjikanhow many hours · كَمْ سَاعَةً
minute	—	なんぷん nanpunhow many minutes · كَمْ دَقِيقَةً

One counter in the set has nothing to do with time: なんにん nannin, “how many people” (كَمْ شَخْصًا). The frame does not care what you put in it.

7.The frame that carries all of them

〜は〜ですか。

は marks the topic and is read wa. ですか makes it a polite question. Put the question word where the answer will go.

Japanese	English	Arabic
これはなんですか。 kore wa nan desu ka	What is this?	مَا هٰذَا؟
あのひとはだれですか。 ano hito wa dare desu ka	Who is that person?	مَنْ ذٰلِكَ الشَّخْصُ؟
おてあらいはどこですか。 otearai wa doko desu ka	Where is the toilet?	أَيْنَ دَوْرَةُ الْمِيَاهِ؟
いまなんじですか。 ima nanji desu ka	What time is it now?	كَمِ السَّاعَةُ الْآنَ؟
あしたはなんようびですか。 ashita wa nan'yōbi desu ka	What day is tomorrow?	مَا هُوَ يَوْمُ الْغَدِ؟
これはどういういみですか。 kore wa dō iu imi desu ka	What does this mean?	مَا مَعْنَى هٰذَا؟
やすみはどのぐらいですか。 yasumi wa dono gurai desu ka	How long is the break?	كَمْ تَدُومُ الِاسْتِرَاحَةُ؟
どうしてですか。 dōshite desu ka	Why?	لِمَاذَا؟

8.The other words in those sentences

Not question words — just what the questions are asking about. Three of them are sentence machinery rather than vocabulary, and Arabic does each of those three jobs a different way.

Piece	What it does	Arabic does it by
は wa	marks the topic; said wa	word order and definiteness — no word
です desu	“is, am, are”, politely	omitting it — هٰذَا كِتَابٌ
か ka	makes it a question; goes last	هَلْ / أَ, at the front

Word	Means	Arabic
これ kore	this one	هٰذَا
あの ano	that … over there	ذٰلِكَ
ひと hito	person	شَخْصٌ
ほん hon	book	كِتَابٌ
くるま kuruma	car	سَيَّارَةٌ
いみ imi	meaning	مَعْنًى
やすみ yasumi	break, rest, holiday	اِسْتِرَاحَةٌ
いま ima	now	اَلْآنَ
あした ashita	tomorrow	غَدًا
おてあらい otearai	toilet, washroom	دَوْرَةُ الْمِيَاهِ
よみます yomimasu	reads — polite form of よむ	يَقْرَأُ
する suru	to do — general	يَفْعَلُ
やる yaru	to do — hands-on	يَعْمَلُ
いう iu	to say	يَقُولُ

Readings and glosses from Jisho.org, serving JMdict/EDICT. The こそあど sets and their groupings follow Tofugu; the なに/なん rule follows The Japanese Page. Arabic checked against Madinah Arabic and Almaany. For how each character is written, see the hiragana stroke chart and the tenten and maru sheet.