How to say what in Japanese

JLPTN5
何★【なにnani・なんnan】

pronoun:

  • what

prefix:

  • how many ［なん］ - followed by a counter ➜ 何か月
  • large number of; many ［なん］ - followed by (optional number), counter and も ➜ 何度も・何日も

noun:

  • you-know-what; that

expression:

  • whatsit; what's the expression; what do you call them

interjection:

  • what? - expressing surprise
  • hey! - expressing anger or irritability

Example Sentences

何naniしてるshiteruのno？
What're you doing?
何とnanito言ったらittara良いyoiかka分かりませんwakarimasen。
I don't know what I should say.
何とnanito言ったらittaraいいiiかka・・・。
What should I say?
だからdakara何nani？
And now, what?
それでsorede彼らkareraのno気kiがga変わっkawaたtaのnoかもkamo知れshireないnai。
That was probably what influenced their decision.

© Based on JMdict, KANJIDIC2, and JMnedict, property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group, used in conformance with the Group's licence. Example sentences from the Tatoeba project (CC BY 2.0). Kanji stroke order data from the KanjiVG project by Ulrich Apel (CC BY-SA 3.0). See comprehensive list of data sources for more info.