誰(だれ)Who

Structure

だれ

Demonstrative

Details

Part of Speech
Noun
Word Type
Pronoun
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Standard

About 誰

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, 誰(だれ) will be translated differently depending on the particle that follows it.

誰(だれ)が・誰(だれ)で・誰(だれ)に・誰(だれ)を (who), 誰(だれ)の (whose), 誰(だれ)か (somebody), 誰(だれ)も (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

--:--

誰(だれ)ですか。

Who is it?

誰(だれ)がいますか。

Who is there?

誰(だれ)がしますか。

Who will do it?

これは誰(だれ)のパソコンですか。

Whose computer is this?

彼(かれ)は誰(だれ)でしょう。

I wonder who he is.

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Online
- Japanese wh-Questions
  Wasabi
- だれ
  Japanese for Beginners

Offline
- [DBJG] A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar
  Page 13
- Genki I 2nd Edition
  Page 64
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誰 – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (6 in total)

Pushindawood
Who
Structure
- Demonstrative
View on Bunpro

[どなた is the formal version of だれ]
Pinebubbles2
How often is the kanji for だれ used? I have not come across it and according to Jisho.org, it is a JLPT N5 word but it is only taught at level 43 of Wanikani as a kanji?
mrnoone
Hey and welcome on the community forums

Both ways of writing are used, though I would say that using 誰 is a bit more common.

I hope it helps,
Cheers
darzington
Hello! In the question:

友達: 君は___?
私: あなたの友達でしょう!

Why is 誰か incorrect? I know that 誰か means
“someone”, but couldn’t it also work as “who?” with か to indicate that it’s a question?
Thanks!
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
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
Oh, I see!!
The video game example really made me understand the difference!!
Thank you so much for the explanation!!