Grammar Info

N5 Lesson 6: 1/13

(だれ)

Who

Structure

だれ

Demonstrative

Details

  • Part of Speech

    Noun

  • Word Type

    Pronoun

  • Register

    Standard

  • 品詞

    名詞

  • 単語の種類

    代名詞

  • 使用域

    一般

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?

    Can mean 'who are you?'.

  • (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

      Page 64

    • [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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