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

by Tomoyuki Higuchi

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

Today’s phrase is :

What’s that?

　are nani

If you want to ask politely, you can say :

　are nandesuka

Pronunciation

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

So how do you say “What’s this?” ?

You can say like this :

　kore nani

Or politely :

　kore nandesuka

Pronunciation

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

　sore nani

Or politely:

　sore nandesuka

Pronunciation

あれ
that

これ
this

それ
it

＋

何
what