Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 3: 3/13

か

Or

Structure

Verb (A) + か + Verb (B) + か
［い］Adjective (A) + か + ［い］Adjective (B) + か
［な］Adjective (A) + か + ［な］Adjective (B) + か
Noun (A) + か + Noun (B) + か

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Particle

  • Part of Speech

    Adverbial Particle

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    助詞

  • 単語の種類

    副助詞

  • 使用域

    一般

About か

One of the common uses of the particle か is often translated to 'or' in English. While this translation is accurate, it is not actually any different from か's regular usage as a question marker.

From these examples, we can see that, in Japanese, か is performing the same role that a question mark would, or that a change in tone of voice would in spoken language.

'Would you like tea? coffee?' (said with a rising tone).

This nuance of か can be used after the dictionary form of almost any word in Japanese. However, using です or ます will change the nuance from 'presenting possibilities', to 'asking a formal question', so should be avoided.

Examples

--:--

    ここかそこ。

    Here or there?

    ここのレストランかあそこのレストランでいい。

    This restaurant or that restaurant is good.

    これは私(わたし)のペンかあなたのペンですか。

    Is this my pen or your pen?

    赤(あか)か青(あお)。

    Red or blue.

    暇(ひま)か忙(いそが)しい。

    Free or busy.

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        • みんなの日本語 I

          Page 20 [CH 2]

        • Tobira

          Page 45

        • [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

          Page 164

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      か – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (8 in total)

      • John_Doe

        John_Doe

        thanks!!!

      • lungmao3

        lungmao3

        Hiya, please can anyone explain if the second か is left implied in some of the examples on the page? E.g. “ここかそこ。” do you only need one か?

      • StaceySuteishi

        StaceySuteishi

        こんいちは！

        I have 2 questions regarding the “structure” section of the grammar explanation.

        Structure

        • Verb (A) + か + Verb (B) + か
        • ［い］Adjective (A) + か + ［い］Adjective (B) + か
        • ［な］Adjective (A) + か + ［な］Adjective (B) + か
        • Noun (A) + か + Noun (B) + か

        First question is, does it always have to be a noun with a noun, an い adj with an い adj, etc?

        Second question is, what is the second か after the Noun (B), Verb (B), etc? I don’t see that coming up in any of the examples.

        ありがとう！

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