Yesterday we learned one interrogative form of a noun predicate sentence. It was a “yes-no question”. Today, we are going to learn a “Wh-question”. In order to introduce a “Wh-question”, let us first look at positive forms of noun predicate sentences.
1. Ano hito wa Sato-san desu. : That person is Ms. Sato.
2. Achira no kata wa Suzuki-san desu. : That person is Mr. Suzuki.
You see differences between the sentences 1. and 2. “Ano” in 1. turned to be “Achira” in 2., and “hito” in 1. turned to be “kata” in 2. The sentence 2. is more polite than 1. The issue of politeness is not an object of today, however, please note that choices of words are affected by how much the sentence should be polite. The following explanation uses the sentence 1. whose politeness is medium level.
If you want to make the sentence 1. a yes-no questions, just put “-ka” at the end.
1’. Ano hito wa Sato-san desuka : Is that person Ms.Sato?
But today, we need to make it a “Wh-question”. There are some interrogative words in Japanese for “when”, “where”, “who”, “what” and “why”. Today only “who” is used. The question word “dare” is corresponding to “who”, so if you want the sentence 1. to be “Wh-question”, it can be as follows;
3. Ano hito wa dare desuka : Who is that person?
Do not mind that the wh-word “dare” is being used not in the subject but in the predicate. Although “dare” can also be used as a subject, that type of construction should be introduced later. Learning more commonly used expressions earlier and less common ones later is important in the second language learning.
Remember today’s expressions as a conversation of question and answer as below.
A : Ano hito wa dare desuka : Who is that person?
B : Ano hito wa Sato-san desu : That person is Ms. Sato.
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 