Level 2 lesson_12_grammar

1. 文法 LESSON 12 GRAMMAR NOTES
G1. INTERROGATIVES + か
You can use an interrogative word (e.g. who, what, where, etc.) + か to say something, anything,
someone, anyone, somewhere or anywhere.
Let’s take a look at the following sentences. What is different between the two of them?
S1. なにをのみますか。
S2. なにかのみますか。
Here’s the difference:
S1. なにをのみますか。
What will (you) drink?
The first sentence is based on the assumption that the person you are asking will drink
something, but you don’t know what she/he would like to drink.
S2. なにかのみますか。
will (you) drink something?
The second sentence shows that you do not know whether she/he would like to drink or not.
In short, the first question is finding out what she/he would like to drink, but the second question is
asking whether she/he would like to drink.
The same concept applies to the following interrogatives.
Ø Where: どこ
l どこに行きましたか。 (where did you go?)
l どこかに行きましたか。(did you go somewhere?)
Ø Who: だれ
l だれがいますか。 (who is there?)
l だれかいますか。 (is someone there?)

2. G2. INTERROGATIVES + も
As you leaned in G1, interrogative + か can mean something, somewhere, someone, anything,
anywhere or anyone.
When you use interrogative + も with a negative ending, you can express nothing, no one, or
nowhere.
Look at the examples:
なにもたべませんでした。
I did not eat anything (lit. I did not eat nothing.)*
いいえ、どこにもいきませんでした。
No, I did not go anywhere (lit. I did not go nowhere.)*
Careful with どこ, it will need a に in addition to も
だれもいません。
No one is there (lit. No one is not there.)*
*Note that the Japanese sentences use a double negative. This is not a mistake, this is grammatically correct in Japanese.
Because a double negative is not grammatical in English, we can not translate these sentences literally. The literal
translations are only provided to you as a guide.