Page 352 - Basic Japanese

7.8. Alternative questions

An alternative question is one in which you give the listener

two or more choices for an answer: Kuruma de ikimashita ka,

basu de ikimashita ka, chikatetsu de ikimashita ka? ‘Did you go by
car, or by bus, or by subway?’ In answer to such a question,

the listener picks out the appropriate alternative and
replies, perhaps, Chikatetsu de ikimashita ‘I went by subway.’ If

the inquirer has omitted the correct alternative in his
question, the person answering may say something like
Chigaimasu—densha de ikimashita ‘It’s different (from all those)—

I went by train.’ Chigau is a verb meaning ‘is different.’ The

expression chigaimasu is often used with about the same
meaning as sō ja arimasen to inform a person he is mistaken

in his assumptions. Do not confuse this verb with the related

verb machi-gaeru ‘makes a mistake.’ Chigaimashita means ‘it
was different (than someone assumed)’; machigaemashita

means ‘I (or he) made a mistake.’
In quoting alternative questions, you usually replace

polite verb forms with plain forms, and then follow the entire
expression with some verb meaning ‘knows, informs, asks,

forgets, remembers’ or the like. Ordinarily, the quoting
particle to is omitted. Some examples:

Alternative Quoted Alternative

Question Question

大阪ですか。神戸ですか。 大阪か神戸か忘れました。

Ōsaka desu ka. Kōbe desu ka.
Is it Osaka or Kobe?