If you live with or consume Japanese material, you must have heard the expression "Nani? nand? Nandesuka? Nandayo? Nanda?" and many others that apparently mean "What?". In this article, we are going to do a very in-depth study related to these Japanese words.
All these words that we mentioned in the title of the article are derived from the ideogram nani [何] that means "what", "how many", "which” and many other expressions related to questions. The differences between them are in the choices of particles and verbs.
To facilitate the navigation of this article, we will leave a summary below:
We also recommend reading our article on Doushite, Naze and Nande.
Differences between nande, nanda, nani...
In Japanese there are many ways to express questions, opinions and even surprises using the "what" ideogram. If we were to ask "what" in a formal way we can simply say nandesuka [何ですか], if we want to talk as informally as possible can we just say nani? [何?] that can give an idea of surprise.
Nanda [何だ] is nothing more than an informal abbreviation of nandesuka, if you still have doubts, just read our article about desu [です] and da [だ]. Sometimes the nanda [何だ] can be spoken in an exclamatory way, conveying an idea of “what is it?” or a frustration, especially if the particle yo [よ] is added, turning into a nandayo [何だよ].
Nandayo can mean "what is this?" but it is a very informal, rough and abrupt manner. Women have the custom of also saying naniyo [何よ]. To better understand the meaning of yo in these expressions, we recommend reading our article about ending sentences with particles.
You can still use the particle ne [ね] in expressions like nandayone [何だよね] where the particle ne give an idea of agreement and affirmation. The particle ka [か] is always used when asking questions, but it's not always necessary. It all depends on the tone with which you pronounce the words nanda, nande, nani...
Although the particle mo [も] conveys the idea of also, when used in expressions involving nani [何] and other particles that precede nani, it conveys the idea of anyone or everyone. The particle [で] from nande [何で] conveys the idea of "why?", "why?" It is like?" in an informal way.
In addition to nande [何で], there are other ways to write "why" like doushite [如何して] which is a bit informal and naze [何故] which is formal. It seems quite complicated to understand the differences between these words, but with time and daily practice, you get the hang of it.
Example phrases involving nande, nani, nanda... nande (なんで) - why nani (なに) - what nanda (なんだ) - what is it
To understand a little about the words we mentioned earlier, we are going to leave you several sentences that can help you understand their use. Let's try to leave several examples of nande, nani, nanda and variations, as well as naze and doushite.
Responsive Table: Scroll the table sideways with your finger >>
| Portuguese | Japanese | Romaji |
| you are the only one i want | 欲しいのは君だけなんだ。 | Hoshī no wa kimi dake nanda. |
| In a word, you hate me, don't you? | 要するに君は私が嫌いなんだね。 | Yōsuruni kimi wa watashi ga kirai nandane. |
| I'm not involved in this. | 俺この件に関してノータッチなんで | Ore kono-ken ni kanshite nōtatchi nande |
| What are you serving today? | 本日のランチの内容はなんですか。 | Honjitsu no ranchi no naiyō wa nandesuka. |
| What is this? | これは何ですか | Kore wa nandesuka |
| It is true? Because? | 本当？なぜ？ | Hontō? Naze? |
| Why does the moon shine at night? | どうして月は夜輝くのか | Dōshite tsuki wa yoru kagayaku no ka |
| Why are people deceived by these schemes? | 何でそんな安っぽいペテンにひっかかるんだ。 | Nande son'na yasuppoi peten ni hikkakaru nda. |
| Take what you want. | 欲しいものは何でも持っていきなさい。 | Hoshī mono wa nandemo motte iki nasai. |
How to know if the reading of [何] is Nan or Nani?
The ideogram of "what” has several readings such as: nani; nan; ka; at; of; i; ok Some wonder when will I know what reading is nan rather than nani? Just observe if the next word starts with t, d or n, which in this case will be pronounced nan (Examples: Nanno 何の; Nandesuka 何ですか; Nande 何で; Nanto 何と).
If other particles follow the character [何] like [が;を;も;ga; wo; mo] the reading will be nani. Of course, there are several exceptions to both cases, especially if what precedes the ideogram [何] is another kanji that forms a single word. There are cases where both pronunciations exist as in [何語], but beware that the meaning may change.
If what follows the kanji of [何] is a counter, the pronunciation will be nan (Examples: Nannin 何人; Nankai 何回; Nandai 何台; Nanmai 何枚). If followed by a noun you use nani (nani-iro 何色) of course there are exceptions such as nanyoubi [何曜日].
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Using nani [何] to ask what or how many
The ideogram for “what” [何] in Japanese is often used together with other words to ask certain things, such as:
Responsive Table: Scroll the table sideways with your finger >>
| Portuguese | Japanese | Romaji |
| How many years? | 何歳ですか? | nansaidesuka |
| What's the number? | 何番 | nanban |
| what day of the week | 何曜日 | nanyoubi |
| What a day; How many days | 何日 | nannichi |
| how many words | 何語 | nango |
| How many minutes | 何分 | nanbun |
| How many people; Amount of people | 何人 | nannin |
| How many times | 何回 | nankai |
| How many (machine counter) | 何台 | nandai |
| How many (thin and flat object counter) | 何枚 | nanmai |
Other words derived from the kanji of nani [何]
To end the article we will share a list of words related to questions that derive from the ideogram of nani [何]:
Responsive Table: Scroll the table sideways with your finger >>
| Portuguese | Japanese | Romaji |
| Where; which place | 何処 | doko |
| Why; as | 何故 | naze |
| Is nothing; with nothing; | 何も | nanimo |
| Because?; for what? | 何で | nande |
| When; As | 何時 | itsu |
| What; as; whatever it is | 何と | nanto |
| As; what (exclamatory) | 何て | nante |
| Which way; which direction; Where | 何方 | dochira |
| Which (among); anyone (+も) | 何れ[も] | dore[mo] |
| Something; Thing | 何か | nanika |
| Anything); whatever; I understand | 何でも | nandemo |
| Something; somehow | 何とか | nantoka |
| Where; which; what; both; any; ocasionally | 何れ | izure |
| How many times | 何回 | nankai |
| How many times | 何度 | nando |
| Something; some reason | 何やら | nanyara |
| How many hours? | 何時 | nanji |
| How much time; How far; how much | どれ位 | dorekurai |
| Anywhere; all the places; completely | 何処までも | dokomademo |
| Something; anything | 何物 | nanimono |
| What; let me see | 何れ何れ | doredore |
| What about; this and that; what what?; What problem? | 何々 | naninani |
| Is nothing; anything | 何でもない | nandemonai |
| How much time? Until when? | 何時まで | itsumade |
| anything; all; almost everything | 何もかも | nanimokamo |
| anyway | 何せ | nanise;nanse |
Thanks for reading our article on nande, nani, nanda and derivatives. Any doubts just comment. We appreciate the shares and to finish we invite you to read our article about the meme omae wa mou shindeiru:
