خانه تو کجاست؟

Where is your house?

Breakdown of خانه تو کجاست؟

• خانه: house
• بودن: to be
• تو: you/your
• کجا: where

Questions & Answers about خانه تو کجاست؟

How do I pronounce خانه تو کجاست؟ (and where is the stress)?

A common colloquial pronunciation is: khune-ye to kojāst?

• خونه (khune) is a very common spoken form of خانه (khāne).
• کجاست is often pronounced kojāst (stress usually falls on the last syllable: ko-jāst).
  If you say it more bookishly/clearly: khāne-ye to kojā ast?

Why does Persian say it in this order—house your where-is?—instead of Where is your house?

Persian often puts the topic first, then the question word later:

• خانه تو = your house (the thing we’re asking about)
• کجاست؟ = where is it?
  So the structure is basically: [your house] + [where is (it)?]. It’s very natural in Persian.

What exactly is کجاست made of?

کجاست is essentially کجا (where) + است (is).
In writing, they’re commonly joined: کجاست؟ = کجا است؟
So it literally means where is (it)?

Is است always attached like that? Can it be written separately?

Both occur:

• Common joined form: کجاست؟
• More separated/explicit: کجا است؟
  Joined forms are extremely common in everyday Persian writing, especially in short questions like this.

Why is it خانه تو and not something like خانهِ تو? Do I need an ezāfe?

In careful/formal Persian, you often link nouns to what follows with ezāfe (an -e/-ye sound):

• Formal/careful: خانهٔ تو (khāne-ye to)
  In casual writing, the ezāfe is often not shown, and people simply write خانه تو. The meaning is still clear.

Is تو the same as you in English? Is it polite?

تو is singular and informal (used with friends, family, children, or peers in a casual context).
For polite/formal you, use شما:

• خانه شما کجاست؟ (khāne-ye shomā kojāst?) = Where is your house? (polite)

Could this mean “Where are you at home?” rather than “Where is your house?”

No—grammatically it’s about the house: خانه تو = your house.
To ask where someone is (location of the person), you’d say something like:

• کجایی؟ (kojāyi?) = Where are you? (informal)
• کجا هستی؟ (kojā hasti?) = Where are you?

Why isn’t there a separate word for is (like هست) here?

Persian has multiple ways to express is:

• است is the more formal/written copula form.
• هست is a common “existential”/colloquial form.
  In this specific pattern, کجاست؟ is a very standard set form, and you don’t need to add anything else.

How would a native speaker say this more naturally in everyday speech?

Very common spoken versions include:

• خونه‌ت کجاست؟ (khune-t kojāst?) = literally your-house where-is?
  Here -ت (-et / -t) is the enclitic your attached to خونه.
  People may also say:
• خونه‌ت کجاست دقیقاً؟ = Where exactly is your place/house?

Why does Persian use the Arabic-style question mark ؟?

Persian is written right-to-left, so it uses the mirrored question mark ؟ at the end of a question. It functions exactly like the English ?, just oriented for right-to-left writing.