Japanese learning (A2 S26): Questions about things that you feel a little bit of Surprise; V-dic/V-nai/V-ta+ndesuka.

When you want to ask a question, you put the sentence-ending particle “-ka.” at the end of a declarative sentence.

– Shokken ga Irimasu. — A meal ticket is required.

– Shokken ga Irimasuka, — Is a meal ticket required?

Suppose you are coming to a big conference. The organizers told you that a free meal was available in lunch time. It’s noon, you went to the dining room, and then you are told that you need to show a meal ticket. You didn’t know, but actually you should have received the ticket at reception before coming to the dining room. With a little surprise, you will ask a question like below;

– Shokken ga Irundesuka. — Are you saying that a meal ticket is required?

This is an example of “[V-dic]+ndesuka.”. As to [Verb]+ndesuka., there are the following four patterns. Examples use the verb “Kau/Kaimasu (buy)”.

1. [V-dic]+ndesuka. : Kaundesuka.

2. [V-nai]+ndesuka, : Kawanaindesuka.

3. [V-ta]+ndeseuka. : Kattandesuka.

4. [V-nakatta]+nedesuka. : Kawanakattandesuka.

In the above, 2 and 4 are combination of negative form and “-ndesuka.” These have stronger surprise, sometimes even become a kind of condemnation. Let us practice 1 and 3 types of “-ndesuka.” questions in the following. Take a look at how the sentence endings change from questions that you have already learned to “ndesuka.” questions.

1. Ame ga Futte imasuka. (Is it raining?)

=> Ame ga Futte irundesuka. (Is it raining? (with a little surprise))

2. Ie o Kaimashitaka. (Did you buy a house?)

  => Ie o Kattandesuka. (Is it real that you bought a house?)

3. Dare ni Purezento o Agemasuka. (To whom are you giving a present?)

  => Dare ni Purezento o Agerundesuka. (Tell me who are you giving the present to.)

4. Itsu Kyouyo ni Ikimashitaka. (When did you go to Kyoto?)

  => Itsu Kyouto ni Ittandesuka. (Tell me when you went to Kyoto.)

3 and 4 are questions that use interrogative words. My English translations may not be expressing the nuance of “-ndesuka.” well. Comparing to “V-masuka.” questions, “V-ndesuka” questions are more emotional.

 Not only for verbs, “ndesuka” questions are applicable to noun, Na-adjective, and I-adjective predicates, too. For those, refer to the yesterday’s post.

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This post was written with reference to the exercise A2 on Section26 of “Minna no Nihongo (2nd Edition)” published by “3A Corporation”