Departments
Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
Learning Japanese Through the News
Japanese Grammar Tutorials
か
ka
The particleか/ ka creates interrogatives in Japanese. You might think of it as being roughly equivalent to the question mark in English.
Usage examples:
彼女は図書館員ですか。
Kanojo wa toshokan-in desu ka.
Is she a librarian?
スミスさんは歯医者ですか。
Sumisu –san wa ha-isha desu ka.
Is Mr. Smith a dentist?
日本は島国ですか。
Nihon wa shimaguni desu ka.
Is Japan an island country?
田中さんは日本人ですか。
Tanaka-san wa Nihonjin desu ka.
Is Mr. Tanaka Japanese?
You will notice that the Japanese sentences are not followed by question marks. The question mark is not native to Japanese, and is not used as a rule. Nevertheless, it does appear in Japanese texts. The significance of question mark is understood by all Japanese, and it is sometimes tacked onto Japanese interrogatives for emphasis. However, it is never required make an interrogative sentence. This is the primary function of か.