How to Say “What’s that / this?” in Japanese

How do you say “What’s that?” in Japanese?

Today’s phrase is :

What’s that?

あれ何?

 are nani

If you want to ask politely, you can say :

あれ何ですか?

 are nandesuka

Pronunciation

  • What’s … ? = … は何?* wa nani
  • that = あれ are

*We often omit “は (wa)” in casual speech.

So how do you say “What’s this?” ?

You can say like this :

これ何?

 kore nani

Or politely :

これ何ですか?

 kore nandesuka

Pronunciation

If you want to say “What is it?”, you can say :

それ何?

 sore nani

Or politely:

それ何ですか?

 sore nandesuka

Pronunciation


あれ
that

これ
this

それ
it


what