Japanese/Lessons/Introduction/Ogenki desu ka/Questions using ka

In this unit, you will learn how to ask and answer yes/no questions.

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Try It

Try to ask and answer the following questions using the vocabulary given. For questions, use 〜ですか。〜 desu ka?, and for answers, use はい、〜です。 hai, 〜 desu. If you are in a classroom, participate with your fellow students. If you are studying independently, converse with yourself. It may help to record yourself with a tape recorder, cell phone, computer, etc.

Ex: Are you well? Yes, I am. (元気(げんき))

元気(げんき)ですか。
はい、元気(げんき)です。

Are you happy? Yes, I am. (幸(しあわ)せ)
Are you sick? Yes, I am. (病気 (びょうき))
Is she pretty? Yes, she is. (奇麗(きれい))
Is he cheerful? Yes, he is. (陽気(ようき))
Are you students? Yes, we are. (学生(がくせい))
Is that rude? Yes, it is. (失礼 (しつれい))

Understand

Duration: 3-5 minutes

Grammar

Particles

Japanese particles (助詞 joshi) are a Japanese part of speech consisting of suffixes or short words which follow other words such as nouns, verbs and adjectives, to indicate a wide range of grammatical and discursive (communicative) functions. For instance, particles are used to indicate, or mark, the subject, direct object, and so on; in English, this task is normally performed by word order. Particles may also indicate the speaker's assertiveness, certitude, or other feelings. Note that a particle cannot exist by itself, it always follows another word or phrase.

Question Marker: か ka

One example of a particle is the question marker か ka, so-called because it is placed at the end of a phrase to indicate that that phrase is a question. Look at the following examples:

元気(げんき)です。 "I'm fine."
元気(げんき)ですか。"How are you?"
学生(がくせい)です。 "She is a student."
学生(がくせい)ですか。 "Is she a student?"
スミスさんです。 "That's Mr. Smith."
スミスさんですか。 "Is that Mr. Smith?"

Because か ka always comes at the end of a sentence, it is called a sentence-final particle. You have already been exposed to another sentence-final particle (ね ne) in the first lesson. More details about this, as well as other examples of sentence-final particles, will be given in future lessons.

Discuss

Duration: 0-5 minutes

If in the classroom, use this time to discuss questions the students may have.

Please post any questions you have about the lesson here, and a contributor will answer.