Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 6: 1/13

(だれ)Who

Structure

だれ

Demonstrative

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Noun

  • Word Type

    Pronoun

  • Register

    Standard

About 誰

(だれ) is a substitute noun that is used in Japanese to describe unknown people. Due to Japanese particles behaving in very specific ways, (だれ) will be translated differently depending on the particle that follows it.

(だれ)(だれ)(だれ)(だれ) (who), (だれ) (whose), (だれ) (somebody), (だれ) (any/everybody).

Caution

Depending on the style of polite speech, there are several different words that will be used to indicate an unknown person. どなた is used in honorific language, while どちらさま is used in polite speech.

Examples

--:--

    (だれ)です

    Who is it?

    (だれ)がいます

    Who is there?

    (だれ)します

    Who will do it?

    これ(だれ)パソコンです

    Whose computer is this?

    (かれ)(だれ)でしょう

    I wonder who he is.

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        • Genki I 2nd Edition

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        • [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar

          Page 13

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      誰 – Grammar Discussion

      Most Recent Replies (6 in total)

      • junetheway

        junetheway

        Hello, everyone!
        I have a simple question.

        お前は誰で行く?

        This phrase is in the examples, but I think 誰と is more natural than 誰で.
        What do you think?
        Do people use 誰で frequently?

      • Fuga

        Fuga

        Hey @junetheway !

        Both 誰で and 誰と would work here! However, changing で to と would change the nuance of the sentence completely.

        This sentence uses this で, which is used to highlight something/someone that is required to perform an action. This means that this で gives this sentence the nuance of ‘Who are you choosing’ instead of ‘going together’. A sentence like this may be heard when playing a video game that requires each players to pick a character.

        Hope this clears it up!

      • junetheway

        junetheway

        Oh, I see!!
        The video game example really made me understand the difference!!
        Thank you so much for the explanation!!

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