Japanese particles か (ka) and も (mo) can combine with the question words to form other words in Japanese.
So far you have already known that the question words for 'what', 'who' and 'where' in Japanese are なに (nani), だれ (dare) and どこ (doko) respectively.
If you add the Japanese particle か (ka) to なに (nani), だれ (dare) and どこ (doko), the Japanese words for 'something' - なにか (nanika), 'someone' - だれか (dareka) and 'somewhere' - どこか (dokoka) are formed respectively.
When you are forming sentences with the above 3 words, some of them require particle while some do not require. The rule is as follow...
Question word + か
Formation | Meaning | Require particle? |
なにか | something | No |
だれか | someone | No |
どこか | somewhere | Yes |
What does the above rule mean? Let's use some examples to show.
Usually when you are asking something using the question word なに (nani)...
However if you are to use 'something' なにか (nanika) in the above question...
You can see that when using the word 'something' なにか (nanika) in the above question, you do not need the Japanese particle を (wo), and the question becomes a Yes/No question (question requires you to answer yes or no).
When answering the above question, you can omit the part on "I will drink something". You just need to say what you are going to drink.
Similarly if you are asking something using the question word だれ (dare)...
However if you are to use 'someone' だれか (dareka) in the above question...
When you are using the word 'someone' だれか (dareka) in the above question, you do not need the Japanese particle が (ga), and the question becomes a Yes/No question.
If you are asking something using the question word どこ (doko)...
However if you are to use 'somewhere' どこか (dokoka) in the above question...
As you can see, different from 'something' and 'someone', even when you are using 'somewhere' どこか (dokoka) in the above question, you still need the Japanese particle へ (e), and the question has become a Yes/No question too.
All the above examples have shown whether Japanese particles are required when you are forming sentences using the words 'something', 'something' and 'somewhere'.
Instead of adding the particle か (ka), if you add the particle も (mo) to なに (nani), だれ (dare) and どこ (doko), the Japanese words for 'nothing' - なにも (nanimo), 'nobody' - だれも (daremo) and 'nowhere' - どこPも (doko P mo) are formed respectively.
When you are forming sentences with the above 3 words, some of them require particle while some do not.
And all these 3 words have to be used together with the negative form sentences. The rule is as follow...
Question word + も + Negative form
Formation | Meaning | Require particle? |
なにも + Negative form | nothing | No |
だれも + Negative form | nobody | No |
どこ (Particle) も + Negative form | nowhere | Yes |
However, if どこも (dokomo) is used (without the particle) together with positive form sentence, it can mean the opposite - 'everywhere' or 'anywhere'. The rule is...
どこ + も + Positive form
Formation | Meaning | Require particle? |
どこ も + Positive form | everywhere | No |
Again let's use some examples to show what the above rules mean...
As you can see from the above answer, when you are using the word 'nothing' なにも (nanimo), you do not need the Japanese particle を (wo) and the sentence need to be in negative form.
The square bracket [ ] indicates that the words inside the bracket are optional.
When you are using the word 'nobody' だれも (daremo)...
When you are using the word 'nobody' だれも (daremo) in the above answer, you do not need the Japanese particle が (ga) and the sentence need to be in negative form.
When you are using the word 'nowhere' どこ + Particle + も (doko Particle mo)...
As you can see from the above answer, when you are using the word 'nowhere' どこ + Particle + も (doko Particle mo), you still need the Japanese particle へ (e) (in this case), and the sentence need to be in negative form.
Note that どこも (dokomo) can mean 'everywhere' or 'anywhere' if it's used together with positive form sentence.
If you want to know more about Japanese particles, I recommend you get one of these books on particles.
Lesson 11: Particles.
Lesson 14: Particles Change in Negative Answers.
Lesson 16: Particles to and de.
Lesson 24: Particles wa and ga.
Lesson 27: Particle to for Quotation.
Intermediate Lesson 14: Particle ga for Introduction.
Intermediate Lesson 18: Particle de with more functions.
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