Genki Grammar #117: Mastering Questions within Larger Sentences

Introduction

In Japanese, you can include a question within a larger sentence. This is useful for expressing things like, “I don’t know when the test is,” or “I’m not sure if Maria came to the party.” By embedding questions into longer sentences, you can add more depth to what you’re saying. In this post, we’ll go over how to use embedded questions, when to use them, and how to form them correctly.

What It Means

An embedded question is a question that becomes part of a larger sentence. In Japanese, you can embed questions in sentences by using the particle か (ka) for question words like “what” or “where,” and かどうか (ka dou ka) for yes/no questions.

For example:

• 何を食べたか (nani o tabeta ka) – what (someone) ate
• 行くかどうか (iku ka dou ka) – whether (someone) will go or not

When to Use It

Use embedded questions when:

1. You want to ask or state if someone knows or remembers information, such as what, where, when, or why something happened.
2. You’re making a decision based on whether something is true or not.

Examples

Here are some examples of how to use embedded questions in larger sentences.

1. 佐藤先生はきのう何を食べたか覚えていません (Satou sensei wa kinou nani o tabeta ka oboeteimasen)
   Professor Satou does not remember what she ate yesterday.
   • Here, 何を食べたか (nani o tabeta ka) means “what she ate.”
2. マリアさんがどこに住んでいるか知っていますか (Maria-san ga doko ni sundeiru ka shitteimasu ka)
   Do you know where Maria lives?
   • Here, どこに住んでいるか (doko ni sundeiru ka) means “where (Mary) lives.”
3. 週末、旅行に行くかどうか決めましょう (Shuumatsu, ryokou ni iku ka dou ka kimemashou)
   Let’s decide whether we will go on a trip this weekend.
   • Here, 行くかどうか (iku ka dou ka) means “whether we will go or not.”
4. だれが一番上手だかわかりません (Dare ga ichiban jouzu da ka wakarimasen)
   I don’t know who is the best.
   • Here, だれが一番上手か (dare ga ichiban jouzu da ka) means “who is the best.”
5. あの人が学生だかどうかわかりません (Ano hito ga gakusei ka dou ka wakarimasen)
   I don’t know if that person is a student.
   • Here, 学生かどうか (gakusei ka dou ka) means “if (someone) is a student.”

Notes

• Question Word vs. Yes/No Questions: Use か (ka) when the embedded question contains a question word (like なに “what” or どこ “where”). Use かどうか (ka dou ka) for yes/no questions.

• Dropping だ (da): When embedding questions with な-adjectives or nouns in the present tense, the short form だ (da) is often dropped, as shown in examples 4 and 5..

• Questions with ‘Why’: When embedding questions that include “why” (どうして or なぜ), change ん to の and drop だ(the short form of です is also dropped). For example:
  • Direct question: どうしてメアリーさんは来なかったんですか (Doushite Mearii-san wa konakatta n desu ka) – Why didn’t Mary come?
  • Embedded question: どうしてメアリーさんが来なかったのかわかりません (Doushite Mearii-san ga konakatta no ka wakarimasen) – I don’t know why Mary didn’t come.

• Using が (ga) instead of は (wa): For embedded questions, use が (ga) with the subject instead of は (wa). For example:
  • Direct question: りくさんはだれが好きですか (Riku-san wa dare ga suki desu ka) – Who does Riku like?
  • Embedded question: 私はりくさんがだれが好きか知っています (Watashi wa Riku-san ga dare ga suki ka shitteimasu) – I know who Riku likes.

Conclusion

Using embedded questions in Japanese allows you to create more complex sentences by combining questions with statements. By mastering how to use か (ka) and かどうか (ka dou ka), you’ll be able to express what you know, don’t know, or want to decide. With practice, you’ll find this structure very useful in your Japanese conversations.

Recommended Resources

For a deeper understanding of Questions within Larger Sentences, I recommend A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar. This book explains the concept under the entry ka (dō ka), covering how to use か and かどうか to embed questions within sentences. If you’re interested in exploring this grammar point further and seeing more examples, this book is an excellent resource to deepen your knowledge of Japanese sentence structure.