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Particle
| A sentence final particle which marks yes-no questions in informal male speech. |
| 【Related Expression: だい (か2)】 |
(ksa). 日本語は面白いかい。
Is Japanese interesting?
(ksb). 上野さんはアメリカへ行くのかい。
Is Mr. Ueno going to America?
| (i){V/Adjective い informal} | かい | |
| {話す /話した}かい | Does (or will)/Did someone talk? | |
| {高い /高かった}かい | Is/was something expensive? | |
| (ii){Adjective な stem/ N} | {Øだった}かい | |
| {静か /静かだった}かい | Is/was something quiet? | |
| {先生 /先生だった}かい | Is/was someone a teacher? | |
| (iii){V/Adjective い} informal | のかい | |
| {話す /話した}のかい | Does (or will)/Did someone talk? | |
| {高い /高かった}のかい | Is/was something expensive? | |
| (iv){Adjective な stem/ Noun} | {なだった}のかい | |
| {静かな/静かだった}のかい | Is/was something quiet? | |
| {先生な/先生だった}のかい | Is/was someone a teacher? |
(a). 日本語を勉強するかい。
Will you study Japanese?
(b). このアパートは静かかい。
Is this apartment quiet?
(c). 君達は学生かい。
Are you students?
(d). その本は難しいのかい。
Is the book difficult?
(e). あの人は先生なのかい。
Is that person a teacher?
1. Since かい is used in informal speech, preceding sentences must be in the informal form. The following sentences are unacceptable.
2. かい is used only for yes-no questions. Thus, the following sentences are ungrammatical.
In these sentences, だい is used. (⇨ だい)
3. Questions in the Key Sentence (A) pattern and those in the Key Sentence (B) pattern correspond to questions without のです and those with のです in formal speech, respectively.
(⇨ のだ)
4. Questions in female informal speech can be formed by dropping かい in male informal questions and using rising intonation. Examples:
For a summary of the endings for informal questions, see だい, Related Expression.