Who & Where: 誰, どなた, どちら, どいつ, & どこ
In this lesson, we will take a closer look at the interrogatives for “who” and “where”: [誰・どなた・どちら・どいつ] for “who” and [どこ・どちら] for “where,” with speech register being the primary means of distinguishing between the options available.
Who?: 誰
The basic word for the interrogative pronoun “who” in Japanese is 誰, which is used in all speech registers, although a politer alternative (respectful or humble variant) may be more appropriate in situations in which honorific speech is called for (business scenes, etc.). While the examples below vary drastically in speech register, the point is that 誰 finds itself used in all these environments.
1. それは誰がやったの？
Who did that?
2. これを誰に渡せばいいの？
Who should I pass this to?
3. 誰に聞けばいいでしょうか。
Who should I ask?
4. これって誰のものですか。
Whose is this?
5. 君、誰？1
Who are you?
6. 世界で一番美しいのは誰？
Who is the fairest of them all?
7. あそこに立ってる奴は一体誰だい2？
8. 向こうにいる女性は誰ですか？
9. 遼平君を愛しているのは、一体誰でしょう？まさかセス君ではないでしょうか？
誰 in Classical Japanese
On rare occasions, you may hear the classical iterations of 誰 for various poetic/nostalgic effects. For instance, 誰のために (for who?) may be heard as 誰がために, with 誰 being read as た. Following the same pattern as other demonstratives, た could be seen as たれ depending on the case particle, but when followed by the case particle が, it was usually rendered as た. Below is a line from a famous Classical Japanese work that students in Japan must study themselves which utilizes 誰がために.
10. また知らず仮の宿り誰が為にか心を悩まし、何によりてか目を喜ばしむる。
What I do not understand is, for whom would someone go through the painstaking effort of building temporary lodging, and how would that please one’s eyes?
どなた
どなた is a respectful way of saying “who,” Although it is often used to ask who someone is, it is seldom used directly toward someone3. Even so, if someone were to appear before you and you are truly perplexed as to who that person is and wish to remain polite, something like Ex. 11 would not be unheard of.
11.（あなた、）どなた（ですか）？
Who are you?
12. お花を下さったのはどなたですか。
Who is it that gave these flowers?
13. 次の方は、どなたですか。
Who is it that’s next?
14. すみませんが、責任者の方はどなたですか。
Excuse me, but who is the person in charge?
15. どなたか、このお子さんをご存知の方はいらっしゃいませんか。
Anyone, is there someone who knows who this child is?
どちら様
The demonstrative pronoun どちら is rather ambiguous. Without the further addition of the suffix ～様, it usually means “where” or “which (out of two things).”
16. 猫と犬（と）、どちらのほうが好きですか。(どちら = “which”)
Between cats and dogs, which do you prefer?
17. 今日はどちらへいらっしゃいますか。(とちら = “where”)
Where are you going today?
The easiest means of producing the meaning of “who” without necessarily appending anything else to どちら would be when it is in reference to an entity being personified. The same can be said for English with phrasings like “who are you with?” in which “who” may pertain to “affiliation.”
18. どちらに所属しておられますか。
Who are you affiliated with?
Nonetheless, どちら様 is certainly the go-to means of respectfully asking “who” in today’s Japanese, giving off a pleasant ring, if not a more pleasant impression than どなた or even どなた様 (see below).
19. もしもし、どちら様ですか。
Hello, who might this be?
20. どちら様でいらっしゃいますか。
May I ask who you are?
As you can see, this variation is more respectful. At times, though, it is not always appropriate to ask “who are you?” to a client or someone to whom you should be giving utmost courtesy. In which cases, paraphrases as seen below may come in handy.
21a. 失礼ですが、お名前を頂戴できますか。
Excuse me, but could I have your name?
21b. 失礼ですが、お名前を伺えますでしょうか。
Excuse me, but could I ask your name?
どちら様, nevertheless, plays an important role in “who” questions in respectful speech. This is because of how it is also nuanced towards asking for affiliation and not just someone’s personal name.
22. あちらのお方はどちら様でしょうか。
Who is that person over there (from)?
23. 恐れ入りますが、本日のご来店はどちら様のご紹介ですか。
Pardon me, but who was it that introduced you to come to our store today?
24. どちら様までご連絡差し上げればよろしいでしょうか。
Who should I get in contact with?
25.「すみません。電話中ですので折り返します。」「あ、わかった」「どちら様まで？念のために電話番号をお願いします。」
“I apologize, but I will need to call you back because I’m on the phone.” “Oh, ok.” “To whom am I speaking? Just in case, may I have your phone number?”
26. 「恐れ入りますが、お名前とご連絡先をお聞きしてもよろしいでしょうか。」
“Pardon me, but may I ask your name and contact information?”
どなた様
While どなた様 is one degree more formal than どちら様 for the meaning of “who,” but this is one textbook definition case in which “formal” need not mean the same thing as “polite.” In practice, the latter sounds more “polite,” therefore it is. This largely relegates どなた様 to contexts in which the speaker asks “about” the name of someone as opposed to directing the question at the person in question. To reflect this in English, “whom” is used in the translations below whenever grammatically feasible.
27. どなた様か存じませんが、先程ご親切に道案内をしていただいた方にお礼を申し上げたいのですが。
I don’t know who it was, but I would like to show my appreciation to the person I had kindly show me the way a moment ago.
28. どなた様にお送りいたしますか。
To whom should I send it?
29. どなた様をお訪ねしたらよろしいですか。
Whom should I visit?
30. どなた様でもお申し込みいただけます。
Anyone can apply.
31. どなた様もご利用OK!
It is okay for whomever to use (it)!
Sentence Note: Ex. 31 is indicative of an advertisement.
Now, when questions are rhetorical and indicative of the speaker talking to themselves, the inclusion of ～様, as polite as it is, becomes rather unnatural. Of course, if the speaker intends to be heard when asking the question, it would be perfectly fine to include ～様.
32. 本日いらっしゃるのは、どなた（様 △）でしょうか。
Now, who was it that was going to visit (me) today?
33. 会長はどなた（様 △｝でしたっけ。
Oh, who was our chairman again?
[どちらの・どの]者
In humble speech, especially in business situations in which you may counter with question regarding “to whom” the person you are interacting with wishes to see, you may hear [どちらの4・どの］者 fill that role.
34. どちらの者にご用でしょうか。
With whom do you have business?
35. 〇〇課のどの者にお取り付ぎいたしましょうか。
To whom should I inform (of your arrival) in our “## Department”?
In reality, you might wish to ask what brings the individual to your establishment before asking about who they wish to be transferred to.
36. どのようなご用件でしょうか。
What sort of business do you have (with us)?
What is increasingly becoming the case nowadays is that the use of a “humble” variant of “who” in these contexts sounds redundant, as simply saying 誰 would give no particular higher status to those in one’s in-group/company. Even so, opting for 誰 can come off as brusque, as it would not much the speech register of the rest of one’s speech.
37.｛誰（△）・どの者｝をお呼び致しましょうか。
Who shall I call for you?
どいつ・何者
In very crude language, you may encounter the phrases どいつ and 何者 for “who.”
38. 噂の女はどいつだ。
Who’s the rumored woman?
39. どいつでもいいんじゃない！
Just anyone’s not alright!
40. どいつもこいつも弱っちくて、何もできない野郎のくせに俺に寄ってたかって気持ち悪いんだよ！
41. こいつは何者なんだ！？
Who the heck is this guy
42. なんと凄い力・・・何者だ！
Such insane power… Who are you?!
Where?: どこ
The basic word for the interrogative pronoun “where” in Japanese is どこ (seldom spelled in kanji as 何処), which is used in all speech registers, although the politer honorific version どちら – appropriate in both respectful and humble speech – may be more appropriate in situations in which honorific speech is called for (business scenes, etc.) While the examples below vary drastically in speech register, the point is that どこ finds itself used in all these environments.
43. トイレはどこですか。
Where is the bathroom?
44. 三上さんはどこですか。
Where is Mr. Mikami?
45. どこに住んでるの？
Where do you live?
Additionally, aside from just meaning “where,” どこ can also translate as “what part?” or even as “what” in some contexts, although this is a matter of English phrasing not matching up 100% with that of Japanese as opposed to these being separate meanings. Speaking of which,
46. どこが悪いの？
What (part) is wrong about (this/that/it)?
47. どこも痛くありません。
It doesn’t hurt anywhere.
48. どこの職場でも人間関係がうまくいかない。
No matter the work place, my relations with people don’t go well.
49. どこまで進んでいるか教えてくれない？
Could you tell me how far you’ve progressed?
In Ex. 49, while it is possible to force a direct translation of “up to where?” in English, other phrasings such as “how far” or “to what point” would be more natural, which also showcases how when “what(ever)” modifies a noun pertaining to a place/area in English, the natural choice of interrogative in Japanese will almost definitely be どこ instead of 何.
50. iPhoneのどこがいいんですか。
What about an iPhone is good?
どちら
As we have already seen, one of the meanings of どちら is “where,” which is actually its root definition. Below you will find plenty of examples in which it is understood as “where,” all of which are rendered in honorific speech.
51. どちらへお泊りでしょうか。
Where will you be staying?
52. どちらへ行かれますか。
Where are you going?
53. どちらへおかけですか。
Where will you sit?
54. ご出身はどちらですか。
May I ask where you were born?
55. ご住所はどちらですか。
May I ask for your address?
56. エスカレーターはどちらですか。
Where is the escalator?
57. 制服ってどちらで買えるんですか。
Where can you buy uniforms?
58. 「王さんのお国はどちらですか。」「台湾です。」
“Mr. Wang, what is your country of origin?” “Taiwan.”
Reading Note: 王 is a Chinese surname. When read the Japanese way, people will read and refer to someone with this surname as オウ. If using a Mandarin rendition, people will refer to that person as ワン. If using the Cantonese rendition, people will refer to that person as ウォン.
- This sentence would likely be spoken by a guy in an extremely informal, abrupt fashion, most likely to someone who he views to be inferior to himself. ↩︎
- The use of だい at the end of the sentence indicates a rather coarse, abrupt, masculine question. It is rather bombastic and has largely fallen out of use, although you will still frequently encounter it in anime, etc ↩︎
- This is likely due to its etymology. In Classical Japanese, the word also had the meaning of “where,” but it no longer retains this meaning in Modern Japanese. ↩︎
- While どちら does typically refer to “two entities,” uber-polite speech often triggers its use over どの. There is also a strong argument to be made that the need for どちら to refer to only “two entities” is simply a strong association for which there is actually no consensus. As such, depending on the speaker, Ex. 34 could easily be used to refer to any number of qualifying referents. ↩︎