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

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

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. 
 * ですか.
 * はい、です.


 * 1) Are you happy? Yes, I am.
 * 2) Are you sick? Yes, I am.
 * 3) Is she pretty? Yes, she is.
 * 4) Is he cheerful? Yes, he is.


 * 1) Are you students? Yes, we are.
 * 2) Is that rude? Yes, it is.

Understand
Duration: 3-5 minutes

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:

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.