Wow... well... there's sooo many ways in which ‰½
nani and ‚Ç‚¤
dou can be used... I can hardly reply in just a few lines. So here's a list of any useful phrases I could think of, including the ones you've been asking. For quite some of these I wasn't all sure about the connotations, so I also used a dictionary and
Alc (which Kokuou had so kindly provided), for verification.
If even so, there are some things that I did mix up, or didn't explain correctly, you are hereby invited (requested) to correct and discuss it.
For completeness' sake, I also included the very `simple` ones.
‰½@
nani ~ what
@@‰½ is object (1), subject (2), agent (3) or 'tool' (4) and pronounced
nani
@@‚P@‰½‚ð“Ç‚ñ‚Å‚¢‚é‚ÌH@
nani wo yondeiru no? ~ "What are you reading?"
@@‚Q@‰½‚ª‚ ‚Á‚½H@@@@
nani ga atta? ~ (litt:) "What was there?" ~ "
What happened?"
@@‚R@‰½‚ɉ£‚ç‚ꂽ‚Ì‚©H@
nani ni nagurareta no ka? ~ "What's the thing that you have been hit
by?
@@‚S@‰½‚ʼn£‚ç‚ꂽ‚Ì‚©H@
nani de nagurareta no ka? ~ "What's the think that you have been hit
with?
@@@@–_‚Å@@@@@@@@
bou de ~ "With a stick"
‰½@
nan ~ what
@@‰½ is subject of copula and pronounced
nan
@@‰½‚Å‚·‚©H@@@@@
nan desu ka? ~ "What is it?"
@@‰½‚¾‚æI@@@@@@
nan da yo! ~ "What is it!" ~ "What!" (like: `What do you want?`, agitated)
@@‰½‚¾‚ÆŒ¾‚Á‚½H@@@
nan da to itta? ~ "You said it was what?"
@@‰½‚¾‚Á‚ÄŒ¾‚Á‚½H@@
nan da tte itta? ~
same
@@‰½‚¾‚ÆH@@@@@@
nan da to? ~ "What did you say?"
@@‰½‚¾‚Á‚ÄH@@@@@
nan da tte? ~
same
@@‰½‚Å@@@@@@@@
nan de ~ "What being it..." ~ "For what reason; Why"
@@‰½‚ňù‚Ý‚½‚‚È‚¢H@
nan de nomitakunai? ~ "Why don't you want to drink?"
@@‰½‚Å‚à@@@@@@@
nan de mo ~ "Even what being it..." ~ "Whatever being it..." ~ "
anything"
@@‰½‚Å‚à‚È‚¢@@@@@
nan de mo nai ~ "Whatever it is, it's not (there)" ~ "There's nothing; Never mind"
@@‰½‚Å‚ào—ˆ‚é‚æ@@@
nan de mo dekiru yo! ~ "I can do anything" ~ "I can do everything"
@@‰½‚Å‚à‚¢‚¢‚æ@@@@
nan de mo ii yo ~ "Whatever it even is, it's good!" ~ "Anything is fine" ~ "Anything will do"
‰½@fixed combinations with either
nan or
nani dependingly.
@@
@@‰½‚©@@@@@@@@
nani ka ~ "Something"
@@Think of ’N‚©
dare ka (someone), ‚Ç‚±‚©
doko ka (somewhere) etcetera...
@@‰½‚©‚ ‚Á‚½‚ÌH@@@
nani ka atta no? ~ "Was there something?"
@@Observing the litteral meaning, it becomes clear in which contexts this could be used.
@@For example, "Did you find something?", "Did something happen?"
@@‰½‚©@@@@@@@@
nan ka ~ "(some) sort of; somehow" ~ "something"
@@Quite different from ‰½‚©
nani ka in general, but can sometimes be used the same way.
@@Note it is spelled the same way in Japanese anyway.
@@‰½‚©A•Ï‚È‹CŽ‚¿‚¾@
nan ka - hen na kimochi da ~ "It's a somewhat strange feeling"
@@@@@@@@@@@@~ "It feels kinda strange" ~ "It's somewhat uncomfortable"
@@‰½‚©•ª‚©‚ç‚È‚¢@@@
nan ka wakaranai ~ "Some way or another, I don't understand
@@@‚Ž‚‚”‚…I@@@@
nani ka wakaranai ~ "I don't understand
something"
@@‰½‚©A‚ ‚Á‚½‚ÌH@@
nan ka, atta no? ~ "Did something happen?" ~ "Was it there, in some way?"
@@‰½‚©A˜b‚µ‚Ä‚æ@@@
nan ka, hanashite yo ~ "Somehow, please tell me" ~ "I feel uncertain so please speak up"
@@@@@@@@@@@@(not litterally, but more like the feeling it carries)
@@‰½‚Æ‚©@@@@@@@
nan to ka ~ "somehow, some way or anoother" ~ "something"
@@As far as I know, practically the same as ‰½‚©
nan ka, except for cases when ‚Æ
to is used as quotative marker.
@@‰½‚à@@@@@@@@
nani mo ~ "What even; even what" ~ "nothing; not anything" + negative
@@‰½‚ào—ˆ‚È‚¢@@@@
nani mo dekinai ~ "What even, I can't do it" ~ "I can't do anything"
@@‰½‚à‚È‚¢@@@@@@
nani mo nai ~ "What even, it's not there" ~ "There isn't anything"
@@‰½{lE”{E–‡@@@
nan + classifier / counter
@@‰½l@@@@@@@@
nan nin ~ "How many persons"
@@‰½”{@@@@@@@@
nan bai ~ "How many times" (bigger, heavier etc.)
@@‰½–‡@@@@@@@@
nan mai ~ "How many sheets of paper/ plates" (flat objects)
@@‰½‚Æ‚È‚@@@@@@
nan to naku ~ "somehow; for some reason"
@@‰½‚Æ‚È‚•ª‚©‚ç‚È‚¢@
nan to naku wakaranai ~ "I don't understand it in some way"
@@Though ‰½‚Æ‚È‚
nan to naku and ‰½‚©
nan ka look much alike in translations... if my
@@opinion on this has any value, I'd say that ‰½‚©
nan ka expresses more a kind of confusedness,
@@or uncertainty - while ‰½‚Æ‚È‚
nan to naku states that the said is only true in a
limited way.
‚Ç‚¤
dou ~ "how; in what way; how about"
@@
@@{‚·‚é@@@@@@
+ suru ~ "to do"
@@‚Ç‚¤‚·‚éH@@@@
dou suru? ~ "Doing in what way/ how" ~ "What will (we/ you/ I) do?"
@@‚Ç‚¤‚µ‚ÄH@@@@
dou shite? ~ "How (what) being done..." ~ "Why?; how come?"
@@‚Ç‚¤‚µ‚½‚ÌH@@@
dou shita no? ~ "How (what) has (it) been done" ~ "What happened (to you)?" ~ "What's the matter?"
@@
@@‚Ç‚¤‚©@@@@@@
dou ka ~ "any how; some kind of way"
@@‚Ç‚¤‚©‚µ‚½‚Ì@@@
dou ka shita no ~ "Did any kind of thing happen?"
So that's that... Quite a list. Good luck reading it all, if you have any questions please go ahead. :victory:
![[image]](http://img469.imageshack.us/img469/2932/p10003486pa.jpg){kind=link}