by Tomoyuki Higuchi
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
+
何
what