Asking where an item is

f4senkyo69 · 6 Feb 2005

Are both these sentences interchangeable? I'm trying to ask where an item is, in this case a magazine.

Zasshi wa doko desu ka?

Zasshi wa doko ni arimasu desu ka?

seasurfer · 6 Feb 2005

Zasshi wa doko desu ka?
---> This one means "Where is the magazine?"

Zasshi wa doko ni arimasu desu ka?
Shouldn't this one be "Zasshi wa doko ni arimasuka?"? Which means "at what place can I find the magazine?"

f4senkyo69 · 6 Feb 2005

But aren't they somewhat similar, if not interchangeable?

CorDarei · 6 Feb 2005

f4senkyo69 said:
But aren't they somewhat similar, if not interchangeable?

Apart from what seasurfer pointed out, that "doko ni arimasu desu ka" should be "doko ni arimasu ka" without the "desu", those two sentences mean the same thing, and in every situation that I can think of at the moment, they are completely interchangeable. I think that you will hear "zasshi wa doko desu ka?" more than "zasshi wa doko ni arimasu ka?", simply because the second one is more of a mouthful and sounds more stilted.

Elizabeth · 6 Feb 2005

CorDarei said:
Apart from what seasurfer pointed out, that "doko ni arimasu desu ka" should be "doko ni arimasu ka" without the "desu", those two sentences mean the same thing, and in every situation that I can think of at the moment, they are completely interchangeable. I think that you will hear "zasshi wa doko desu ka?" more than "zasshi wa doko ni arimasu ka?", simply because the second one is more of a mouthful and sounds more stilted.

The only wordier sounding thing that comes to mind at the moment would be 'Dochira ni zasshi wa arimasu ka?'

bentenmusume · 6 Feb 2005

Elizabeth said:
The only wordier sounding thing that comes to mind at the moment would be 'Dochira ni zasshi wa arimasu ka?'

Hmm, that sounds slightly awkward with the "wa"-marked topic in mid-sentence.

If you're trying to capture the indirect sort of politeness of "Where might I find the magazine?", maybe something like 「雑誌はどちらにあるのでしょうか」 or the like might work.

Elizabeth · 6 Feb 2005

It did to me as well, but stuck in my mind from the (below) list NANGI posted nearly a year ago. And perhaps the awkward splitting of dochira ni from its object has that very effect of distinguishing it from less-polite normal sounding speech.

Where is the car key?

Dochira ni Kuruma no Kagi ha arimasu ka?
Kuruma no Kagi ha Doko ni arimasu ka?
Kuruma no Kagi ha Doko desu ka?
Kuruma no Kagi Doko desu?
Kuruma no Kagi Doko?

Asking where an item is

f4senkyo69

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seasurfer

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f4senkyo69

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CorDarei

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Elizabeth

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bentenmusume

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Elizabeth

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