Grammar › Core Patterns
何か / 誰か / どこか — “something, someone, somewhere”
Vague, unspecified references: 何か食べたいです — I want to eat something
Attaching か to a question word creates a vague, unspecified reference: 何か (something), 誰か (someone), どこか (somewhere) — the positive counterpart to the negative 何も/誰も/どこも pattern.
How to form it
| Pattern | Example |
|---|---|
| 何か + verb | 何か食べたいです — I want to eat something |
| 誰か + verb | 誰か手伝ってくれませんか — won't someone help me? |
| どこか + verb | どこか静かな場所に行きたい — I want to go somewhere quiet |
Example sentences
| Japanese | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| お腹がすきました。何か食べたいです。 | おなかがすきました。なにかたべたいです。 onakagasukimashita。nanikatabetaidesu。 | I'm hungry. I want to eat something. |
| 誰か日本語が話せる人はいますか。 | だれかにほんごがはなせるひとはいますか。 darekanihongogahanaseruhitohaimasuka。 | Is there someone who can speak Japanese? |
| 今度の休みはどこかへ行きたいです。 | こんどのやすみはどこかへいきたいです。 kondonoyasumihadokokaheikitaidesu。 | I want to go somewhere on my next day off. |
🔊 Tap any Japanese sentence to hear it; kanji link to their study pages.
Watch out
Don't confuse this か with the question-marker か at the end of a sentence — here it attaches directly to the question word itself, in the middle of the sentence, to create a new, standalone pronoun.