か (2)

Particle (Basic ㊦ 166)

A sentence final particle which indicates that the preceding sentence is interrogative.

Equivalent: Whether; if

よし子は大学へ行く・行きますか。: Is Yoshiko going to college?
私はテリーにナンシが日本へ行くかと聞いた・聞きました。: I asked Terry whether Nancy was going to Japan.
あなたは学生ですか。: Are you a student?
これは何ですか。: What is this?
友達は漢字が難しいかと聞いた。: My friend asked if kanji is difficult.
私はジャンに誰が来たかと尋ねた。: I asked Jan who had come.
僕は山崎先生が昨日何を言ったか忘れてしまった。: I've forgotten (completely) what Professor Yamazaki said yesterday.
私は健二にお金を貸したかどうか思い出せない。: I cannot remember if I lent Kenji some money.

Formation

(i) {Verb/Adjective い}	か
	{話す /話します} か	Will (or does) someone talk? (informal/formal)
	{高い /高いです} か	Is something expensive? (informal/formal)
(ii) {Adjective な stem/ Noun}	{Ø/です} か
	{静か /静かです}か	Is something quiet? (informal/formal)
	{先生 /先生です} か	Is someone a teacher? (informal/formal)

Notes

1. The question marker か is a special use of the か which marks an alternative (i.e., か1). For example, Key Sentence (A) came from (1), with the parenthesized part omitted.

(⇨ か1)

よし子は大学へ行きますか。（それとも行きませんか。)
Is Yoshiko going to college? (Or is she not?)

2. Unless it is very informal, an interrogative sentence is marked by か whether it is a yes-no question or an interrogative word question. (⇨ だい; かい) Note that in Japanese interrogative sentences, the word order is the same as that of the corresponding declarative sentence. Also, an interrogative sentence is pronounced with rising intonation whether it is a yes-no question or a interrogative word question.

3. か remains in indirect questions as in Key Sentence (B), Examples (c) and (d).

4. When the informal forms of な type adjectives and the copula precede the question marker か, だ drops. A possible reason is that だ, the informal form of です, expresses a strong assertion and it conflicts with the question marker か, which expresses the speaker's uncertainty about something.

(⇨ かい; かもしれない; かしら)