Asking "How"

How many? - Ikutsu desu ka?

How much? - Ikura desu ka?

How far? - Dono kurai tooku?

How long? - Dono kurai kakaru no?

How come? - Doushite?

How fast? - Dono kurai hayai no?

How late? - Dono kurai okureru no?

How big? - Dono kurai ookii no?

How small? - Dono kurai chiisai no?

How soon? - Dono kurai suguni?

Homonculus:How about asking what,where for time&place?

What time:
Ima wa nan ji desu ka?
今は何時ですか

What place:
Doko desu ka?
どこですか

Yay for bring back old threads

A question: Why do we end questions in "no"?

-Kira

This requires a complex explanation, so here goes:

In Japanese, the "no" particle has many uses. When put at the end of a sentence, it functions as either a request or confirmation. Think of it as either an implicit question (Ex: I want to know X) or an explanation to something (Ex: It's because of Y). If you're directly asking a question, the default question marker is "ka." But in some cases when you're simply requesting information such as:

Gakkou ni iku no?
Are you going to school?

You can choose to end the sentence with "no." Alternatively when you want to confirm something, you can also end a sentence with "no." For example:

Ringo wa kirai na no.
I hate apples.

However, confirming a sentence with "no" can sometimes sound feminine so many guys avoid this by adding a "da" at the end. "Da" is the essentially the informal version of "Desu" so your new sentence becomes "Ringo wa kirai na no da." Most people at this point find this very wordy, so they can contract the "no" particle to just "n." In English, it's very similar to how we contract words like "can not" to just "can't" and so on. The final sentence will then become "Ringo wa kirai nan da." I hope this helps.

This helps a lot Thank you!! I have always thought the "-n da" is some sort of a passive form LOL Nevermind... I just suck at the language... =_=

-Ki

This requires a complex explanation, so here goes:

In Japanese, the "no" particle has many uses. When put at the end of a sentence, it functions as either a request or confirmation. Think of it as either an implicit question (Ex: I want to know X) or an explanation to something (Ex: It's because of Y). If you're directly asking a question, the default question marker is "ka." But in some cases when you're simply requesting information such as:

Gakkou ni iku no?
Are you going to school?

You can choose to end the sentence with "no." Alternatively when you want to confirm something, you can also end a sentence with "no." For example:

Ringo wa kirai na no.
I hate apples.

However, confirming a sentence with "no" can sometimes sound feminine so many guys avoid this by adding a "da" at the end. "Da" is the essentially the informal version of "Desu" so your new sentence becomes "Ringo wa kirai na no da." Most people at this point find this very wordy, so they can contract the "no" particle to just "n." In English, it's very similar to how we contract words like "can not" to just "can't" and so on. The final sentence will then become "Ringo wa kirai nan da." I hope this helps.

Good explanation..