by Tomoyuki Higuchi
How do you say “What are you eating?” in Japanese?
Today’s phrase is :
What are you eating?
何食べてるの？
nani tabeteruno
- what ＝ 何 nani
- you ＝ あなたは* anatawa
- are eating ＝ 食べているの** tabeteiruno
*We do not usually say “あなたは (anatawa)” in everyday conversation.
**”食べているの (tabeteiruno)” becomes “食べてるの (tabeteruno)” in spoken language.
何
what
＋
食べてるの？
are eating?
If you want to ask politely, you can say :
何食べてるんですか？
nani tabeterundesuka
(casual)
何食べてるの？
(polite)
何食べてるんですか？