The Particle か III: Indirect Question
Subordinate clauses (従属節) are the opposite of independent clauses (独立節). In English, independent clauses stand alone as sentences with at least a subject and a verb, and dependent clauses are composed of a subject and verb but do not form a complete thought. Thus, the former is used as a sentence and may also be called the “main clause (主節)” but the latter is not. In the English sentences, below, the clause put in [] is labeled as either being an independent or a dependent clause.
i. [I went to the park.] (Independent Clause)
ii. The one [who went to the park]… (Dependent Clause)
iii. [That song is amazing.] (Independent Clause)
iv. Which song was it [(that) I thought was amazing]? (Dependent Clause)
v. I forgot [what we did the other day.] (Dependent Clause)
vi. I know [what you did the other day.] (Dependent Clause)
In English, dependent clauses are usually marked with the words “what,” “which,” “whose,” “where,” “who,” “whom,” and “that.” English does not particularly distinguish between using these words based on whether a question is being embedded or not. In other words, “what” does not look different in v. or vi. despite that the meaning is not the same.
Subordinate Clause: When Not a Question
When you are creating a subordinate clause, but not to embed a question, you simply place the verbal phrase like you would an adjectival phrase directly before the noun you wish to modify. The opposite is true in English, which depending on the length of the phrase, places complex verbal qualifiers after the noun in question.
1. 健太君はきのう、山を登りました。
Yesterday, Kenta climbed a mountain.
2. きのう山を登ったのは、健太君でした。
The one who climbed the mountain yesterday was Kenta.
In Ex. 2, the particle の is used to change きのう山を登った into a nominal phrase1, and it is essentially the “one” in the sentence with no intervening “who” being necessary thanks to the 連体形 of 登った. This should not be new information at this point, as we have seen plenty of sentences in which whole phrases, whether they end in adjectives or verbs, modify nouns.
3. 巨大な魚があのサメを飲み込んだ。
An enormous fish swallowed that shark.
4. あのサメを飲み込んだ、この魚はやはり大きいですね。
This fish, which swallowed that shark, is as big as expected, isn’t it.
Embedded/Indirect Questions
When a subordinate clause is an embedded question, the particle か intervenes. Embedded sentences, as a rule, do not include the topic of the sentence. This is because the topic should be outside, in the main clause. As such, you will expect to see が in dependent clauses. If for some reason you do see は, that is a clue that you are not actually in the embedded clause, and if you are, it is not being used to simply mark a topic.
5. カイロは（、）どこの国にあるか知っていますか。
Do you know which country Cairo is in?
6. どの宿題が難しかったか教えてください。
Please tell me which homework was difficult.
7. どれがおいしいかまずいかさっぱりわかりません。
I have no idea which is delicious and which is nasty.
～かどうか
To express “whether (…)or not,” you may follow a predicate with ～かどうか, with the どう standing place for the opposite rendition of the predicate (whether it be the same verb in the negative or its antonym). Of course, sentences like Ex. 8 are parallel in structure with どう being absent but rendered as what it would otherwise take the place of.
8. 妻が寝ているか起きているか分からない。
I don’t know whether my wife is asleep or awake?
9. 妻が寝ているかどうか分からない。
I don’t know whether or not my wife is asleep.
10. （私は、）彼女が虫が嫌いかどうかわかりません。
I don’t know whether or not she hates bugs.
11. 夫が本当に幸せかどうか分かりません。
I really don’t know whether or not my husband is really happy.
Without the ～どうか, you create a sentence that asks “if/whether” something is so, which in all practicality is no different than “whether or not.”
12. お風呂が十分に熱いかどうか確かめてください。
Please check whether or not the bath is hot enough.
13. お風呂が十分に熱いか確かめてください。
Please check if the bath is hot enough.
14. きょうは、あの店の素麺が本当にまずいか調査します。
Today, I will investigate if that place’s somen really is disgusting.
Subordinate/Embedded Question Clauses = Noun-Like?
Embedded questions marked by か, though subordinate clauses, may take on noun-like properties, being modifiable by both other adverbial quantifiers (Exs. 15-16) or case particles (Exs. 17-20).
15. 山口さんは誰が歌ったか大体知っているでしょう。
Mr/M(r)s. Yamaguchi probably knows for the most part who sang.
Grammar Note: 大体 corresponds to the quantity of people 誰 refers to.
16. 私は何が届いたか全部知っています。
I know all of what has arrived.
Grammar Note: 全部 corresponds to the quantity of things 何 refers to.
This demonstrates that embedded questions end up functioning like nouns thanks to か. This can be further demonstrated by how other particles can follow it.
17. 警察は誰が犯行現場にいたか（を）調べています。
The police are investigating who was at the crime scene.
18. どんな状態になるかに注目してください。
Pay attention to what sort of situation it becomes.
19. 古いかどうかを調べる方法
Method of investigating whether or not it’s old
20. ないものはしょうがないですが、明日の時点で発送する端末は来週水曜までに札幌に到着するかが知りたいです。
The ones you don’t have can’t be helped, but I want to know if the devices that you will ship as of tomorrow will make it by Wednesday next week to Sapporo.
～のか
The の in のか establishes that the speaker’s concern is serious and directly related to the discourse at hand. What determines the overall civility of your question is all based on what else is added to the sentence, but putting that aside, this same principle applies to embedded questions as well.
21. 存在意義は何なのか教えてください。
Please tell me what exactly the meaning of life is.
22. 何が何かはほとんどわかりません。
I hardly understand what is what.
23. 何を言っているのかわからない。
I don’t understand what you’re saying.
When you use か all on its own, the level of uncertainty you are portraying is more or less at about 20%. You are not sure; thus, you are asking a question, but your level of uncertainty is neither pressing nor significant in the least. This helps explain the tone of all the examples of it thus far in this lesson.
24. 次の相手は誰かわかりません。
I don’t know who my next opponent is.
25. 次の相手は誰なのかわかりません。
I really don’t know who my next opponent is.
The use of のか raises the level of one’s uncertainty to 50%. When the particle か is directly after a question word, it first and foremost shows that something is uncertain. As such, in Ex. 24, the fact that one has an opponent is just what is uncertain about the situation. With the change to のか, your attention is shifting toward suspicion as to who will really be one’s opponent.
26. 誰が盗んだのか知りませんか。
Would you happen to know who stole it?
27. ここは生鮮食料品が安いのか、すごく混んでいます。
Whether it’s because fresh produce is cheap, but it is really crowded here.
28. 運用している人が少ないのか、インターネットに情報がほとんどありません。
Whether it’s because there are few people running it, there is hardly any information online.
Interrogative + か
The combining of [interrogative + か] can be interpreted in two ways depending on the grammatical context. The first of which is when か marks an embedded question and the interrogative is the predicate of that subordinate clause.
29. この生物は何か教えてください。
Please tell me what creature this is.
30. 七夕2はいつか知っていますか。
Do you know when Tanabata is?
Or, the combination may create adverbial (nouns) equivalent to the “some…” pronouns in English: 誰か (someone), 何か (something), いつか (sometime), どこか (somewhere), どうか (somehow), etc. As nouns, they may be marked by case particles (Exs. 32, 34), but some like どうか are exclusively used as adverbs, which is how these words are typically used due to still being formed by the adverbial particle か.
31. いつかきっと、世界が一つになる日が来る。
Someday surely, the day in which the world becomes one will arrive.
32. あの子は粘土で何か（を）作った。
That child made something with clay.
33. 今週は、旦那がある本を買いにどこかへ行った。
This week, my husband went somewhere to buy a certain book.
34. どうか許してください。
Please forgive me.
～だか
Say you are even more doubtful and or suspicious about the situation. In which case, rather than using ～か or ～のか, you can use ～だか. Thanks to か being in sentence-medial position, だ is spared from being ellipsed. The level of one’s uncertainty expressed is 80%.
～だか attaches to nouns and adjectival nouns with no modification done to either side, as ～だ itself establishes the 終止形. With adjectives or verbs, however, you will need to insert ん・の, giving ～んだか・のだか, as だ must follow a nominal(ized) phrase.
35. 次の相手は誰だかわかりません。
I have no clue who my next opponent is.
36. 僕は、あいつが本当に女だかわからないんですよ。
I really have no clue if that guy is a woman.
37. 相手がゲイだかわからない。
I sure don’t know if my partner/the person (I’m dealing with) is gay.
80% uncertainty is not a guarantee. In the example below, the question posed is simply drawing the listener in to elicit a response for the speaker to then say yea or nay.
38. この世で最高に綺麗なものは何だか知ってます？
Do you what the prettiest thing in the world is?
何だか can also be used as an adverb meaning “a little/somewhat/rather.”
39. この辺は何だか静かですね。
This area is rather quiet, isn’t it?
40. 何だか眠い。
I’m a little tired.
～んだか
Showing 80-100% indecisiveness/uncertainty is possible with ～んだか, especially in the pattern A…んだか＋B…んだか. The “A” and “B” can be a noun, adjective, adjectival noun, or verb. If using a noun or adjectival noun, you will need to place な before ～んだか so that you are still utilizing the 連体形. For adjectives and verbs, this pattern becomes indistinguishable from the previous one, which is why it may or may not show absolute indecisiveness.
41. 安いんだか、高いんだか、もうわからないんですよ。
I have no idea whether it’s cheap or expensive.
42. 主人公は一体誰なんだかわからない。
I have no earthly idea who the protagonist is.
43. 少ないんだか、多いんだか分からなくなるよな3。
You end up not having a clue if there’s little or a lot of it, you know.
～んだか ＝ Or
～んだか may also indicate desperation/complete indecisiveness, translating as “whether…or…” This, though, is used in the sense of making heads or tails of a situation, not as in presenting indecisiveness on a benign decision.
In the same light, all the other patterns shown in this lesson can be used the same way with various degrees of uncertainty implied.
| Pattern | Uncertainty | Explanation |
| ～か～か | 0~20% | Simply lists options. |
| ～のか～のか | 50% | A rather confident yet uncertain “or.” |
| ～だか～だか | 80% | Very uncertain and suspicious “or.” |
| ～んだか～んだか | 100% | Completely indecisive “or.” |
As for ～か～か, the final か is not there if you are just listing options of an action/situation unless you are actually questioning something. It is when you list situations/actions that both か are needed.
44. 生の水道水か沸騰した水道水かお茶か、どれが一番健康にいいんですか。
Which is the healthiest, plain tap water, boiled tap water, or tea?
45. 水かミルクを飲んでください。
Drink water or milk.
46. すしか刺し身を注文してください。
Order either sushi or sashimi.
47. 公園に行くか、デパートに行くかですね。
Either go to the park or go to the department store, right?
48. 東京では男だか女だか分からない人が多いの？
Are there are lot of people in Tokyo you can’t tell whether they’re a man or a woman?
49. 寒いのか暑いのか分からないんじゃないの？
You don’t know whether it’s cold or hot (outside)?
50. もう誰が死ぬんだか、みんな死ぬんだかわからない。
I have no idea anymore who’s going to die or if everyone’s going to die.
- The particle の in this nominalizing capacity is often referred to in Japanese as a 準体助詞. ↩︎
- 七夕, also known as the Star Festival, is a Japanese festival that celebrates the meeting of the deities 織姫 and 彦星 represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively. ↩︎
- The final particle な at the end of this sentence is used similarly to ending a sentence with “you know” in English, and its use over ね suggests that the speaker is likely male. ↩︎