How to Ask Questions in Japanese: Add か to a Polite Sentence

You have learned a simple Japanese sentence about yourself:

Now imagine you are meeting someone in a Japanese class, and you want to ask, “Are you a student?” One of the most useful beginner question patterns is surprisingly small. Keep the sentence and add か (ka) at the end.

The word がくせい stays where it was. Only the ending changes. That gives you an important mental model: you often do not need to rearrange a polite Japanese sentence to turn it into a question.

The short answer: add か

The basic pattern is statement + か → question. Try it with two more sentences you might use in the same class. First, a statement and a question about a teacher:

1. せんせいですSensei desu.You are a teacher.
2. せんせいですかSensei desu ka.Are you a teacher?

Then a question about nationality. にほんじん (nihonjin) means “a Japanese person.”

1. にほんじんですNihonjin desu.You are Japanese.
2. にほんじんですかNihonjin desu ka.Are you Japanese?

In every pair, the words before か are identical. When you speak, say the question with a rising intonation at the end. In writing, you may see either 。 or ？ after か. This lesson uses 。.

English changes the order. Japanese often does not

English frequently moves words around to make a question. “You are a student” becomes “Are you a student?” Japanese can keep exactly the same order:

1. がくせいですGakusei desu.You are a student.
2. がくせいですかGakusei desu ka.Are you a student?

If you have already learned that Japanese builds toward the end of the sentence, this will feel familiar. The important information sits at the end, so the question marker goes there too. You can take many polite sentences you already know and turn them into questions without learning a new sentence structure.

Listen for ですか at the end

Because か comes last, the ending is where you find out that someone is asking you something. Here are a few everyday questions built on です:

1. だいじょうぶですかDaijoubu desu ka.Are you okay?
2. げんきですかGenki desu ka.Are you well?
3. これはほんですかKore wa hon desu ka.Is this a book?
4. あしたですかAshita desu ka.Is it tomorrow?

だいじょうぶ checks that someone is okay, げんき asks about their health or energy, and これ points to the thing in front of you. Each sentence ends in ですか (desu ka). When you hear that ending, it is a strong beginner clue that someone is asking a polite question.

The same move works with ～ます

Questions are not limited to sentences ending in です. If a polite action ends in ます (masu), add か in the same place. Start with いきます (go):

1. いきますIkimasu.I will go. / I go.
2. いきますかIkimasu ka.Will you go? / Do you go?

Now do the same with たべます (eat) and のみます (drink):

1. たべますTabemasu.I eat. / I will eat.
2. たべますかTabemasu ka.Do you eat? / Will you eat?
3. のみますNomimasu.I drink. / I will drink.
4. のみますかNomimasu ka.Do you drink? / Will you drink?

So you now recognize two extremely useful beginner endings: ～ですか (desu ka) and ～ますか (masu ka). Both form polite questions.

Try it in a real conversation

You meet another student before class. The question and the answer share almost every word.

1. がくせいですかGakusei desu ka.Are you a student?
2. はい、がくせいですHai, gakusei desu.Yes, I am a student.

Later, a friend asks whether you are going to school tomorrow:

1. あした、がっこうにいきますかAshita, gakkou ni ikimasu ka.Are you going to school tomorrow?
2. はい、いきますHai, ikimasu.Yes, I am.

Look at the answer again. Removing か from いきますか leaves いきます, the polite statement. That is why answering a yes-or-no question can be as simple as repeating the verb.

Add a question word when you need information

You can also use か when the sentence contains a question word. The question word tells you what information the speaker wants, and the final か still marks the polite sentence as a question.

どこ (doko) means “where”:

なんじ (nanji) means “what time”:

なに (nani) means “what”:

Each of these patterns has more to it than one example can show. To ask for places, learn どこですか for locations. To ask about times and schedules, learn なんじですか for telling the time.

Yes-or-no questions and information questions

It helps to separate two kinds of questions. A yes-or-no question checks whether something is true:

You can answer it with はい (yes) or いいえ (no):

1. はいHai.Yes.
2. いいえIie.No.

An information question asks for something missing. You cannot answer どこですか with yes or no; you need to give the place. Imagine you are looking for the toilet. You ask, and someone answers:

1. トイレはどこですかToire wa doko desu ka.Where is the toilet?
2. あそこですAsoko desu.It is over there.

Both questions end in か. The question word is what changes the kind of answer you need. The reply あそこ (over there) supplies the missing information.

You usually do not need “you”

English questions often include an explicit “you”: “Are you a student?” or “Do you drink coffee?” Japanese often leaves the person unstated when the situation makes it clear. The word あなた exists, but it is rarely used in conversation. When you know the person's name, Japanese speakers use the name with さん, or they say nothing at all.

1. がくせいですかGakusei desu ka.Are you a student?
2. コーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee? / Will you drink coffee?

Said to the person in front of you, both sentences naturally ask about them. The exact meaning of コーヒーをのみますか depends on the situation: it can ask about a habit, or offer a cup right now. Do not force a word for “you” into every question just because English uses one.

Common beginner mistakes

Copying English word order

Suppose you know これはほんです (This is a book). An English speaker might expect the Japanese words to move around for “Is this a book?” They do not need to. Keep the structure and add か:

Putting か in the middle

In the polite pattern taught here, か follows the polite ending. Say がくせいですか, not がくせいかです. Likewise, say コーヒーをのみますか, with か after のみます. Think sentence → polite ending → か.

Translating every English helper word

English needs “do” in “Do you eat sushi?” Japanese has no separate word for that helper. The action たべます stays in place, and か turns the sentence into a question:

Assuming every question needs か

か is the reliable choice for polite beginner questions. In casual conversation with friends, people often drop か and ask with rising intonation alone, for example のむ？ (Want a drink?). Recognize that when you hear it, but keep using ですか and ますか while you are learning polite Japanese.

Practise questions with か

Recognition practice

Which of these sentences are questions?

1. せんせいです。 (Sensei desu.)
2. せんせいですか。 (Sensei desu ka.)
3. コーヒーをのみますか。 (Koohii o nomimasu ka.)
4. コーヒーをのみます。 (Koohii o nomimasu.)

Answers

Sentences 2 and 3 are questions. The clue is the final か.

Turn statements into questions

Change each polite statement into a polite question, then check the answers.

1. がくせいです。 (You are a student.)
2. げんきです。 (You are well.)
3. いきます。 (You will go.)
4. すしをたべます。 (You eat sushi.)
5. コーヒーをのみます。 (You drink coffee.)

Answers

1. がくせいですか。 (Gakusei desu ka.) Are you a student?
2. げんきですか。 (Genki desu ka.) Are you well?
3. いきますか。 (Ikimasu ka.) Will you go?
4. すしをたべますか。 (Sushi o tabemasu ka.) Do you eat sushi?
5. コーヒーをのみますか。 (Koohii o nomimasu ka.) Do you drink coffee?

Choose the right question

1. You want to ask, “Are you a student?” A. がくせいです。 B. がくせいですか。
2. You want to ask, “Will you go?” A. いきますか。 B. いきます。
3. You want to ask, “Where is it?” A. どこですか。 B. どこです。
4. You want to ask, “What will you eat?” A. なにをたべます。 B. なにをたべますか。

Answers

1. B. がくせいですか。
2. A. いきますか。
3. A. どこですか。
4. B. なにをたべますか。

Build your own questions

Take three polite statements you already know and add か. For example, if you study Japanese:

1. にほんごをべんきょうしますNihongo o benkyou shimasu.I study Japanese.
2. にほんごをべんきょうしますかNihongo o benkyou shimasu ka.Do you study Japanese?

Then try questions about food and drink, using すし and コーヒー:

1. コーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee?
2. すしをたべますかSushi o tabemasu ka.Do you eat sushi?

Say each question aloud with a rising intonation, then answer it yourself. That gives you both sides of a beginner conversation:

1. コーヒーをのみますかKoohii o nomimasu ka.Do you drink coffee?
2. はい、のみますHai, nomimasu.Yes, I do.

Keep this in mind

When you already know a polite Japanese statement, you can often make a question by keeping the sentence intact and adding か: です → ですか and ます → ますか. This one change turns Japanese you already know into something much more useful: a conversation.

Continue learning

Use this pattern to ask for a location with the lesson on asking “Where is…?” with どこですか.

Practise another common question with the lesson on asking the time with なんじですか.

If Japanese sentence order still feels unfamiliar, learn the mental model in basic Japanese sentence order, with the action at the end.

Build the words for your own questions with the YapaneseAI vocabulary lessons, or browse more lessons in the YapaneseAI learning hub.