Page 91 - Basic Japanese
P. 91
The particle ka is placed at the end of a sentence to show
that it is a question. It is as if we were pronouncing the
question mark:
Ano ie desu.
It’s that house.
Ano ie desu ka.
Is it that house?
A common way of asking a question in Japanese is to
give two or more alternatives, one of which the answerer
selects.
Ano hito wa Nihon-jin desu ka. Chūgoku-jin desu ka.
Is he Japanese or Chinese? (Literally, ‘Is he
Japanese. Is he Chinese?’)
Alternative questions are further discussed in Note 7.8.
