～か

How to form it

• Sentence (polite or plain) + か: あなたは学生ですか
• Question word + ...か: 何を食べますか
• Written with ？ or 。; speech uses rising tone

Register: Neutral

Explanation

Turns a sentence into a question.

Word order does not change. The sentence stays the same and か is added at the end. In casual speech か is often dropped and the voice rises.

Examples

1. あなたは学生ですか。

   あなたはがくせいですか。

   Are you a student?

2. これは何ですか。

   これはなんですか。

   What is this?

3. コーヒーを飲みますか。

   コーヒーをのみますか。

   Will you drink coffee?

4. お名前は何ですか。

   おなまえはなんですか。

   What is your name?

Compare with

• ～ね: ～ね seeks agreement rather than information.

Common mistakes

• Changing the word order of the sentence to make a question.
• Adding か to a sentence that is not a question.