How To Say What Is This In Japanese

Anyone who's learned a foreign linguistic communication can tell you lot that it'south sometimes hard to find what a specific English give-and-take means in other languages.

Japanese is a pretty unlike language from English language, grammatically speaking. Translations are complicated and there isn't always a one-to-1 human relationship between concepts similar "or."

And so how do you lot say "or" in Japanese?

How do you say "or" in Japanese?

Although at that place isn't a unmarried Japanese word you can stick in the middle of a sentence to mean "or," there are several different grammatical structures you tin use to prove the same relationship between choices.

The most simple two ways are repeated use of the particle か or なり after successive options.

Some other option is 又は（または）, used in between two noun phrases or sentences to connect them as possible choices. A fourth way to say "or" in Japanese is to use とか　afterward each option.

Using か to mean "or"

If you've studied any Japanese, you're probably familiar with か as the so-called "question particle," used at the end of a sentence a single time to testify that it's a question.

Another manner to use this particle is as a "linking particle" to connect multiple parts of a judgement in a manner that shows their relationship.

Think of it similar the topic particle は, which shows the relationship betwixt the bailiwick of a sentence and the balance of it.

In this case, notwithstanding, repeated utilise of the give-and-take か after 2 or more than successive phrases shows that they are all possible options under discussion.

Since this is a grammatical structure, and non just a discussion yous can stick in the middle of a sentence, it's of import to understand how it'south used in context.

Written out like a math formula, this employ of か looks similar this: [noun]か[substantive]か

Examples

「お茶かコーヒーか、どっちの法が好きですか？」 (おちゃ　か　コーヒ　か　どっち　の　ほう　が　すき　です　か)

Pregnant roughly "Practise you lot prefer tea or java," a literal translation of this would be "Tea or java: which exercise yous prefer?" Note the employ of か as a linking particle to say "tea or java" in the phrase お茶かコーヒーか.

「難しいことがあれば、お父さんかお母さんか、教えてください。」　（むずかしい　こと　が　あれば　おとうさん　か　おかあさん　か　おしえて　ください）

"If y'all ever see problem, please tell your father or your mother" might exist one style to say this in English. As in the previous case, the repeated use of か shows that お父さん and お母さん are options for who to tell.

Using なり to say "or" in Japanese

Grammatically, なり is used in exactly the same fashion as か to link two substantive phrases and show that both are possible options.

Equally a formula, なり would wait the same as か: [noun]か[noun]か

Keep in mind that か and なり are only usable if you are comparing substantive phrases.

If what you're trying to compare consists of different actions that could be taken, represented past verbs, you tin add たり to the end of the て course of each verb and follow the phrase with the right form of する.

In other words, for verbs the formula is [て-form verb minus the て]たり[て-grade verb minus the て]たりする

Examples

「蝙蝠はバナナなりピーマンなりが好きです」　（こうもり　は　バナナ　なり　ピーマン　なり　が　すき　です)

"Bats like bananas or peppers."

In English, we might apply the discussion "and" instead in this judgement, considering bats like both of those things. This is technically a peculiarity of English, however, and technically this is a then-called "inclusive or," meaning that the right option can be one or the other or both.

If we wanted to translate this and keep the discussion "or" in the judgement, we might add "or other things similar that" to the end. "Bats like bananas, peppers or other things similar that."

「肉食べたり牛乳飲んだりする法が体にいいです。」　（にく　たべたり　ぎゅうにゅう　のんだり　する　ほう　が　からだ　に　いい　です)

Although たり technically takes the place of "or" in this sentence, nosotros might translate it more than naturally as "things similar X."

This gives the particle an interesting part in a sentence where you have unlike verbs, as it implies the option listed is one right option among several unlisted ones.

In this sentence, たり is used similar that to give united states something like "Eating meat and drinking milk is good for your health."

The English sentence "I might read a volume or lookout man TV on my day off" would exist 1 case for using たり. In Japanese, y'all could say 「休日に本を読んだり、テレビをみたり。」 (きゅうじつ　に　ほん　を　よんだり　テレビ　を　みたり)

又は（または）as "or"

又は is a third option for proverb "or" in Japanese.

Like か and なり/たり, this conjunction goes between multiple noun phrases. You can fifty-fifty link whole sentences with this 1! Unlike the previous options, 又は only appears a unmarried time in the center of the sentence.

In this respect, it'south closer to the English conjunction "or." Like たり, yous tin can connect also completely different ideas with this kind of "or."

The formula for this option is: [noun phrase]か又は[noun phrase]

Note that the particle か needs to appear subsequently the offset noun phrase to properly connect information technology to または.

Also, while you can connect ii unabridged sentences with 又は, you lot tin can't use this conjunction to connect two questions.

If yous're trying to enquire someone which of two options is correct, you should write the first question as a complete sentence, then start the 2nd question with それとも instead of 又は: [question ane]。それとも[question 2]

Examples

「コーヒはいかがですか。それともお茶はいかがですか。」 (コーヒ　は　いかが　です　か　それとも　おちゃ　は　いかが です か)

"Would you lot like coffee? Or would you like tea?"

Considering this "or" is used to connect two sentences, it'south necessary to use それとも instead　of 又は.

「ブラウンさんは東京へ行きたいか又は旅館に泊りたいだと言いました。」

"Brownish said he wants to get to Tokyo or stay in a traditional Japanese in."

Hither, 又は is used to show that these are both things Brown would similar to practice. Each of these two phrases are essentially consummate sentences. Annotation again that か is used to connect the kickoff sentence to 又は.

とか to connect a series of possibilities

とか is another style to say "or" in Japanese. This connecting particle works virtually identically to なり and か, merely unlike those other options it does not imply whether one option or the other is preferred. You lot can cord along phrases continued by とか nearly indefinitely.

[noun phrase]とか[noun phrase]とか…

Examples

「食べ物は何が好きですか？] 「寿司とか、うなぎ丼とかラーメンとか。。。まあ、いろんな日本的の食べ物がすきよ。」

"What kind of food do you similar?"
"Sushi, eel basin, ramen… Well, diverse Japanese-style foods like that."

Here, the speaker is answering a question past connecting a number of options with とか.

Fifty-fifty though in translation the give-and-take does not announced, fifty-fifty in English we would understand that these are all options and not that the speaker wants all three of them.

Bonus: Saying "or things like that" in Japanese using などと

If you want to list one representative example rather than multiple things, try the handy phrase "などと."

「日本語は難しい言葉などと言う人がいる。」 (にほんご　は　むずかしい　ことば　などと　いう　ひと　が　いる)

In that location are people who say things like "Japanese is a hard language."

「妹はケーキなどとが好きです。」 (いもうと　は　ケーキ　などと　が　すき　です)

"My sister likes block or things like that."

Hey fellow Linguaholics! It's me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I accept studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.

Source: https://linguaholic.com/linguablog/or-in-japanese/

Share this post