Trial
Chapter 5

What is your name?

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ポケット日本語

なに? なん?

Asking ‘what’ in 日本ご

Warm Up

Rules

You have 百二十 seconds to answer as many questions as possible!

Once a correct answer has been typed, it will move to the next question.

The こたえ (answer) button will show each answer for 五 seconds!

Use hiragana/ katakana!

There are 1-2 correct answers for some questions, if your struggling to find an answer, check...

Spelling and grammar

Should it be in Katakana？

Are sentence structures and vocab ones we've learnt in class?

Level Tips

In this exersize...

Japanese names should be in hiragana, Foreign names in Katakana

Sentences can have more than 1 の particle

Does the noun describing a noun need a の between?

時間: 02:00

なん vs なに

Generally...
なん
...is used when asking questions about a quantity or number. When used like this, it's similar to asking "How many?"
For example:
"なんさいですか?" means "How old are you?" Here, "なん" is used because you're asking about a quantity (years old). 		なに
...is used when asking questions about things, objects, or concepts, and seeking to identify or describe something. It's similar to asking "What?"
For example:
"なにいろ?" means "What colour?" Here, "なに" is used because you're asking about a description.
When asking "What is it?", your more likely to use "なんですか" in a formal situation.
For example:
かれのなまえはなんですか。

Getting the usage of なん vs なに correct can be difficult! If remembering the usage is difficult, hopefully as we study further you’ll get used to them through habit!

Let’s see some examples!

  • What time is it?

    なんじですか。

    nan ji desu ka

  • What age are you?

    なんさいですか。

    nan sai desu ka

  • What grade are you?

    なんねんせいですか。

    nan nensei desu ka

  • What is this?

    これはなんですか。

    kore wa nan desu ka

  • What is his name?

    かれのなまえはなんですか。

    kare no namae wa nan desu ka

  • What?

    なに。

    nani

What is your name?

  • First, let’s look at some related grammar.

    In Japanese, it’s common to see ‘o’ or ‘go’ attached to the front of some nouns such as ‘ocha’ (tea), ‘obento’ (boxed lunch) and… ‘onamae’ (name).

  • This is grammar we’ll study later…

    …but when you’re studying you might see ‘なまえ’ appear as ‘おなまえ’.

    This is basically used to show respect!

  • Important note:

    You cannot use ‘onamae’ wa when referring to yourself. It is used to respect other people!

  • Now let’s look at asking ‘what is your name’.

    あなたのなまえはなんですか。

    or

    あなたのおなまえはなんですか。

    are both good!

  • Tip for asking ‘What is it’:

    This won’t work for all questions, but when we’re looking at ‘what is x’ questions, we can use the sentence structure:

    ‘X’ は何ですか。

    ‘X’ はなんですか。

    (Subject は何ですか。)

  • かれのなまえは何ですか。

    What is his name?

Question: X のなまえは　なんですか。

Answer: X のなまえは (name) です。