Japanese question words — the interrogatives, or 疑問詞（ぎもんし） — are your tools for asking what, who, where, when, how, which, and why. There are only about a dozen of them, and this page introduces the whole set at once. But the single most important thing to learn here is not the list; it is a structural fact that trips up nearly every English speaker: Japanese question words do not move. They sit in the exact spot a normal noun would occupy, and the sentence simply ends in か.
The full inventory
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Polite / formal variant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 何 | なに / なん | what | — |
| 誰 | だれ | who | どなた (donata) |
| どこ | doko | where | どちら (dochira) |
| いつ | itsu | when | — |
| どう | dō | how, how about | いかが (ikaga) |
| どれ | dore | which one (of 3+) | どちら (of two) |
| どの | dono | which _ (+ noun) | — |
| なぜ / どうして / なんで | naze / dōshite / nande | why | なぜ (formal) → なんで (casual) |
| いくら | ikura | how much (cost) | おいくら (o-ikura) |
| いくつ | ikutsu | how many / how old | おいくつ (o-ikutsu) |
| どんな | donna | what kind of _ | どのような (dono yō na) |
Several of these are the ど-branch of こそあど — どれ, どの, どこ, どちら, どう, どんな all share the ど- ("which/wh-") prefix with the demonstratives これ・その・あそこ and so on. If you know the demonstrative system, you already know half of the question words for free; see the こそあど overview.
The golden rule: question words stay in place
In English, a wh-word jumps to the front of the sentence: "You eat sushi" becomes "*What do you eat?" — *what has leapt from the object slot at the end all the way to the beginning. Japanese does nothing of the kind. The question word stays exactly where the answer would go, and か marks the sentence as a question.
何を食べますか。
nani o tabemasu ka
What do you eat? / What will you eat?
どこに行きますか。
doko ni ikimasu ka
Where are you going?
いつ来ますか。
itsu kimasu ka
When are you coming?
In each, the interrogative sits in the object, place, or time slot — precisely where a plain noun would sit — and nothing has been reordered. There is no equivalent of English "do-support" and no fronting.
The learning shortcut hidden in this rule
Because the question word never moves, a wh-question and its answer have almost identical word order. To answer, you swap the question word for the real information and leave everything else alone.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 田中さんは何を食べますか。 | 田中さんは寿司を食べます。 |
| Tanaka san wa nani o tabemasu ka | Tanaka san wa sushi o tabemasu |
田中さんは何を食べますか。 ― 寿司を食べます。
Tanaka san wa nani o tabemasu ka? — sushi o tabemasu
What does Tanaka eat? — He eats sushi.
The interrogative 何 and the answer 寿司（すし）occupy the same slot. This is a genuinely powerful shortcut: build the statement you'd expect as an answer, drop the wh-word into the unknown slot, add か, and you have a perfectly-formed question.
Question words take が, not は
There is one particle habit worth flagging early. A question word asks for brand-new, unknown information, and は marks known topics — so an interrogative in subject position takes が, never は.
誰が来ますか。
dare ga kimasu ka
Who is coming?
どれがいいですか。
dore ga ii desu ka
Which one is good?
Saying ×誰は来ますか is a classic beginner error — you cannot mark an unknown as a known topic. The same logic runs through the whole language; see は vs が: new versus known information.
More of the set in action
誰と映画を見に行くの？
dare to eiga o mi ni iku no?
Who are you going to see a movie with?
これ、どうやって作るんですか？
kore, dō yatte tsukuru n desu ka?
How do you make this?
どんな音楽が好きですか。
donna ongaku ga suki desu ka
What kind of music do you like?
この時計、いくらですか。
kono tokei, ikura desu ka
How much is this watch?
Register: choosing among the "why" and "which" words
Some meanings have several forms that differ only in politeness, and mixing them up is a register error rather than a grammar error:
- why: なぜ (formal, written), どうして (neutral, slightly emotional "how come"), なんで (casual, spoken). In an essay use なぜ; among friends use なんで.
- where / which: どこ・どれ are neutral; どちら（ら）is the polite/formal counterpart used in service situations and to sound refined (お手洗いはどちらですか, "where is the restroom?").
- who: だれ is neutral; どなた is polite ("may I ask who's calling?" → どなた様ですか).
These are explored in detail on 何: なに or なん, 誰・どこ・いつ, and どう・どんな・どうして.
Common Mistakes
❌ 何を田中さんは食べますか。
Incorrect — fronting 何 English-style, ahead of the topic 田中さんは.
✅ 田中さんは何を食べますか。
Tanaka san wa nani o tabemasu ka
What does Tanaka eat?
You do not move the question word forward for emphasis the way English forces what to the front. It stays in its normal object slot, after the topic.
❌ どこあなたは行きますか。
Incorrect — the interrogative can't be dumped at the front, and the particle is missing.
✅ あなたはどこに行きますか。
anata wa doko ni ikimasu ka
Where are you going?
❌ 誰は来ますか。
Incorrect — a question word marks unknown info, so it takes が, not the topic particle は.
✅ 誰が来ますか。
dare ga kimasu ka
Who is coming?
❌ 何を食べます。(intended as a polite question)
Incorrect — a polite question needs か; without it, this reads as a statement.
✅ 何を食べますか。
nani o tabemasu ka
What will you eat?
Key Takeaways
- The interrogatives (疑問詞) are a small set: 何, 誰, どこ, いつ, どう, どれ／どの／どちら, なぜ／どうして／なんで, いくら, いくつ, どんな.
- They never move. They sit in the slot the answer would fill; the sentence ends in か (or rising intonation, casually).
- To answer, swap the wh-word for the real information and keep the rest — question and answer share word order.
- Interrogatives in subject position take が, not は.
- Many "why/which/who/where" meanings have formal↔casual variants (なぜ/なんで, どこ/どちら, だれ/どなた) — pick by register.
Now practice Japanese
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Start learning Japanese→Related Topics
- 何: Reading It as なに or なんN5 — When 何 is read なに and when it becomes なん — a single phonological rule that covers counters, です, の, and t/d/n-initial sounds.
- 誰・どこ・いつ: Who, Where, WhenN5 — The three everyday question words 誰 (who), どこ (where), and いつ (when) — including why どこ needs a location particle but いつ usually doesn't.