JLPT N5 Questions and sentence endings
か turns a statement into a question, while question words like どんな, どうして, and どうやって ask what kind, why, and how. Endings like ね, よ, and でしょう・だろう add the speaker's attitude: ね seeks agreement, よ tells the listener something new. Mixing up ね and よ can make you sound either unsure or pushy.
10 N5 grammar points in this group
か (ka): question particle
か has no direct English translation. Its job is to mark the sentence as a question, much like a question mark or rising intonation in English.
日本語を勉強しますか。 — Do you study Japanese?
どんな (donna): what kind of
どんな asks about the kind or quality of something you have not seen, met, or tried yet.
どんな音楽が好きですか。 — What kind of music do you like?
どうして (doushite): why or how come
どうして is a question word, like なに (what) or どこ (where). It sits near the start of the question and asks for a reason.
どうして日本語を勉強しているんですか。 — Why are you studying Japanese?
どうやって (douyatte): how to do something
The word is built from two pieces you may already know: どう (“how, in what way”) and やって, the te-form of the verb やる (“to do”). Put together, どうやって means “doing it in what way?”. That is why it always leads into a verb: you are asking about the way an action is done.
駅までどうやって行きますか。 — How do I get to the station?
はどうですか (wa dou desu ka): how about; how is
The pattern has three pieces:
日本の生活はどうですか。 — How's life in Japan?
ね (ne): isn't it; right
ね signals that the information is common ground: something both you and the listener can see, feel, or already know.
今日は寒いですね。 — It's cold today, isn't it?
よ (yo): you know; emphasis
よ marks the information as yours to give and theirs to receive.
この店のラーメンはおいしいですよ。 — The ramen at this place is really good.
なあ (naa): sentence ending particle
なあ has no dictionary meaning of its own. It adds the speaker's emotion to whatever comes before it.
いい天気だなあ。 — What great weather.
でしょう (deshou): probably or right
でしょう tells the listener that the speaker is not stating a fact, but a judgment.
明日は晴れるでしょう。 — It will probably be sunny tomorrow.
だろう (darou): probably or right?
だろう turns a statement into a guess. 雨が降る means "it will rain". 雨が降るだろう means "it will probably rain". The speaker is not reporting a fact. They are giving their own prediction, based on what they know or can see.
明日は雨が降るだろう。 — It will probably rain tomorrow.