How to use what with the XはYです pattern?
How to ask a question with what in Japanese
When we askan open question where we want to aska free answer rather than a yes / no answer, one of the question words (interrogative) is何 (NAN), which we have already seen as 何歳 (how old) in this lesson on age.
And although an interrogative word is at the top position of a sentence in English, in Japanese, 何 (NAN) takes the position of the element of the sentence that we want to know.
So, in a grammatical pattern,
XはYです。
X wa Y desu.
X is Y.
we canreplace Y with 何 (NAN) andadd a question particle か at the end of the sentence.
For example,
それは何ですか。
kore wa nan desu ka.
What is that?
Be carefulnot to make the typical mistake of asking a question
何はYですか。
where 何 occupies the position of X.
This is probably a common mistake when referring to “What is this?” sentence in English.
Because in the grammar pattern XはYです。, we know that X has a certain specific meaning and it is Y that can be unknonwn.
How to answer
When being asked with
それは何ですか。
kore wa nan desu ka.
What is that?
you can answer with
1- only the necessary information
2 – the whole answer
For example,
スマホです。
sumaho desu.
This is a smartphone.
これはスマホです。
This is a smartphone.
Comparing to an open question and a closed question
Sometimes, Japanese learners get confused about giving an answer when being asked, especially about whether we use はい (yes) / いいえ (no) to answer.
And here’s a simple cheat sheet.
there is only a question particle か : Yes / No answer
これはスマホですか。
kore wa sumaho desu ka.
Is this a smartphone?
はい、スマホです。
hai, sumaho desu.
Yes, it is.
there are more than か : Free answer
これは何ですか。
kore wa nan desu ka.
What is this?
スマホです。
sumaho desu.
This is a smartphone.
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