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Japanese Embedded Questions: How to Say "Whether or Not" with かどうか and か

Japanese embedded questions are one of the four Japanese subordinate clause types. They let you tuck a question inside a larger sentence, so "I don't know whether or not I can go" becomes 旅行りょこうに行いけるかどうかわからない.1 The key is one particle: か turns a whole question into a noun-like chunk that a verb such as わからない or 知しらない can operate on.2

Overview​

An embedded question is a question that has stopped standing on its own and started serving as a piece of a bigger sentence. Instead of asking "Is the shop open?" you report or deny your knowledge of it: "I'll ask whether the shop is open."

The mechanism is the same across three patterns: a plain yes/no embed with ～か, an explicit "whether or not" embed with ～かどうか, and a wh-question (who, what, when, where) with a question word plus か. In all three, the inner clause ends in か and the main verb follows.

What "embedding" a question means​

A standalone question can be packaged into a larger sentence by attaching the question particle か. The idea is to "treat the sentence as a phrase by using the か question marker."2

Once embedded, the か-marked clause behaves like a noun. The construction is a noun clause (名詞節めいしせつ): "a question sentence enters in place of a noun,"3 and it "may take on noun-like properties, being modifiable by both other adverbial quantifiers or case particles."4

The か doing this work is the same か that ends a standalone question. Inside an embed, "か... just helps to clarify that the embedded clause is in fact a question, without adding any nuance."5

JLPT level and register​

This construction is called 間接疑問文かんせつぎもんぶん (an indirect question). It is analysed as a sentence built on a subordinate カ-clause (従属じゅうぞくカ節せつ).6 It is standard JLPT N4 grammar.

The register is neutral and everyday, and the pattern appears in both spoken and written Japanese. The inner clause uses plain (short) form rather than polite form: "丁寧形ていねいけいは使つかわず、普通形ふつうけいです" (polite form is not used; plain form is).3

Forming embedded questions​

There are three ways to build the inner clause, plus one spelling rule for nouns and na-adjectives. The shape is always the same: take a question, end it in か, and attach it to a main verb.

Yes/no embedding with ～か​

For a yes/no question, attach か to the plain (short) form of the predicate, then add the main clause.7 The か takes over the questioning role inside the clause. The main verb lands at the end.2

田中たなかさんはいつ来くるか、分わかりますか。2
"Do you know when Tanaka-san is coming?"

The same shape works for a request to find something out. The embedded clause feeds a verb like 教おしえる.

どこに住すんでいるか教おしえてください。8
"Can you tell me where you live?"

A verb of asking, such as 聞きく, works the same way. The か-clause names what gets asked.

その店みせが今日きょう開あいているか、電話でんわで聞ききます。
"I'll call and ask if the shop is open today."

"Whether or not" with ～かどうか​

To make the "or not" alternative explicit, append どうか to か, giving ～かどうか ("whether or not"). The どう stands in for the opposite version of the predicate, so the clause names both outcomes at once.24

明日あした晴はれるかどうか知しらない。9
"I don't know if the weather will be clear or not tomorrow."

旅行りょこうに行いけるかどうかわからない。1
"I don't know whether or not I can go on a trip."

The inner clause keeps its own tense. A past event inside the embed stays past even when かどうか follows.

名前なまえを書かいたかどうか、もう一度いちどチェックしてください。9
"Please check again whether or not you wrote the name."

Embedding wh-questions (question word + か)​

For a content question, the question word (誰だれ・何なに・いつ・どこ・どうして) stays in its natural position inside the clause. The clause still ends in か, and the main verb follows. The formation is question word + plain form + か.10

誰だれがパーティーに来くるか知しってる？10
"Do you know who's coming to the party?"

先生せんせいがどこにいるか知しってる？10
"Do you know where the teacher is?"

どうして私わたしが怒おこっているかわかってる？10
"Do you know why I'm angry?"

Only か goes with a question word, never かどうか

A wh-question already carries its "which one" meaning inside the question word, so it takes plain か only: "疑問語ぎもんごのある疑問文ぎもんぶんでは「～か」だけです" (content questions take only ～か).3 Save かどうか for yes/no embeds.

カイロはどこの国くににあるか知しっていますか。4
"Do you know which country Cairo is in?"

The だ-drop rule for nouns and na-adjectives​

When か or かどうか attaches to a noun or a na-adjective, drop the plain copula だ. Bunpro states it plainly: "Do not attach だ or です to nouns or な-adjectives preceding か."7 Coto Academy gives the same rule for both word classes: to use a na-adjective with ～かどうか, "omit だ," and "this rule applies for nouns as well."11

便利べんりかどうか分わかりません。11
"I don't know whether or not it is convenient."

今いまの動物どうぶつは犬いぬかどうか分わからないけど、怖こわかった。1
"I don't know whether or not the animal I just saw was a dog, but it was frightening."

This drop applies only to the nonpast だ. Keep the past copula だった, because it is a tense form rather than the bare nonpast.

結婚けっこん記念日きねんびはいつだったかすっかり忘わすれてしまった。3
"I completely forgot when our anniversary was."

だか exists, but it is not the N4 form

Some descriptive grammars record だか attaching directly to a noun before か. Treat that as an advanced or more formal written variant. The drop rule above (学生がくせいかどうか, not 学生だかどうか) is what N4 materials teach and what graders expect.711

Nuance and usage contexts​

Embedded questions sound natural when you choose between か and かどうか, pick the right main verb, and handle tense and politeness well. The rules below are small and consistent.

かどうか vs bare か: when each is natural​

For a yes/no embed, both bare か and かどうか are acceptable. Some predicates take かどうか, and some do not need it.3 The difference is explicitness: かどうか spells out the "or not" alternative, while bare か leaves it implied.8

One way to see what かどうか includes is to compare it with a spelled-out A-か B-か pair, where the second option is named outright.

妻つまが寝ねているか起おきているか分わからない。4
"I don't know whether my wife is asleep or awake."

妻つまが寝ねているかどうか分わかりません。4
"I don't know whether or not my wife is asleep."

In the second sentence, どう does the same job that 起おきている did in the first: it stands in for the opposite of "asleep." The restriction still holds: かどうか is for yes/no embeds only and is never used with a question word.3

Main-clause verbs that take embedded questions​

The verb that closes the whole sentence usually describes intellectual or mental activity: asking, telling, knowing, investigating, judging, deciding, or worrying. Common licensing predicates include 聞く・尋たずねる (ask), 教おしえる・知しらせる (tell, inform), わかる・知しる・覚おぼえる・調しらべる (understand, know, remember, investigate), 決きめる・判断はんだんする (decide, judge), and 心配しんぱいする (worry).3

Many everyday sentences use the negatives of these verbs (分わからない, 知しらない, 覚おぼえていない). That is why "I don't know whether…" is the most common frame.

行いくかどうか後あとで電話でんわで知しらせます。9
"Whether or not I go, I'll let you know later by phone."

旅行りょこうに行いくかどうかまだ決きめていません。11
"I haven't decided yet whether or not I will travel."

Tense inside the embedded clause​

The embedded clause carries its own tense, independent of the main clause. A past event inside the embed uses plain past, no matter when the knowing or asking happens.

漢字かんじはいつ日本にほんへ来きたか知しっていますか。10
"Do you know when Kanji came to Japan?"

Here 来きた is past inside the embed, while the main clause 知しっていますか is present. The two tenses are set independently. A nonpast embed such as 明日あした晴はれるか stays nonpast even under a present main verb.9

Politeness stays outside: plain form inside the embed​

The inner clause uses plain (short) form even when the main clause is polite. Keep everything in short form before か or かどうか, including in です/ます sentences.3 Maggie Sensei's contrast pair shows a polite direct question becoming plain once it is embedded: the ます of どこに住んでいますか becomes plain いる in どこに住んでいるか教えてください.8

どこに住すんでいますか？8
"Where do you live?"

The standalone question above is polite throughout. Once embedded, its predicate drops to plain いる while the politeness moves to the main verb (教えてください), as in the earlier どこに住んでいるか教えてください.

Honorific language can lift the inner form, but that is above N4

With 敬語けいご (honorific language), the embedded predicate can appear in polite form: "敬語けいごを使つかうと丁寧形ていねいけいになることもあります."3 At N4, treat plain-form-inside as the rule so you do not produce 来ますか分からない.

Good to know​

Don't use かどうか with a question word​

A wh-question already names what is unknown, so adding かどうか is redundant and wrong. Writing 誰だれが来るかどうか分からない for "I don't know who is coming" is incorrect. The question word 誰だれ already supplies the "which/whether," so only ～か is used.3 The correct form keeps か alone.

誰だれがパーティーに来くるか知しってる？10
"Do you know who's coming to the party?"

かどうか stays reserved for yes/no embeds, where there is a genuine "or not" to spell out.83

Embedding か vs the sentence-final question か​

The か that ends a standalone question and the か that builds an embedded clause are the same particle, the "marker of the unknown."5 Inside an embed, か "just helps to clarify that the embedded clause is in fact a question, without adding any nuance."5

What differs is the job. The sentence-final か closes a question that stands on its own. Embedded か packages that question into a noun-like clause, which a main verb of knowing, asking, or deciding then operates on.24

Recognising か as one particle with two jobs is the cleanest way to keep the two uses straight.

Embedded question vs quotation with と​

Embedding and quotation are distinct framings, even though both report what was asked or thought. In a plain embed, the clause ends in か and feeds a verb of knowing or asking directly, as in the 聞きく examples above. A quotation instead marks the reported content with と before the verb.

The two can also co-occur: …かと聞いた frames the question as a quoted act of asking, blending embedded か with quotative と. Plain embedding (…か聞いた) and quotation with と (…と言った) remain separate patterns. The article on Japanese quotation with と covers the と side in full.

The "noun-like chunk" intuition​

The most useful mental model is that か turns a question into a noun. The か-clause becomes a noun clause: it is "a case where a question sentence goes in place of a noun,"3 and it can be modified by case particles just as a noun can. That is why an optional を sometimes appears after か.4 This is the same move that こと and の make when they nominalise a clause. The articles on those complement clauses develop the parallel.

See also​

References​

Footnotes​

  1. Bunpro. "かどうか (JLPT N4)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%8B ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Tae Kim. "Phrasing questions." Tae Kim's Guide to Learning Japanese (Complete Guide). https://guidetojapanese.org/learn/complete/embedded_questions ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. にわサブロー (niwa saburoo). 「57. 名詞節(2)」 niwa saburoo の日本語文法概説. https://niwasaburoo.amebaownd.com/posts/5773549 ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  4. Imabi. "The Particle か III: Indirect Question." https://imabi.org/the-particle-ka-%E3%81%8B-iii-indirect-question/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. Tofugu. "Particle か: A Marker of the Unknown." https://www.tofugu.com/japanese-grammar/particle-ka/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. 志波彩子. 「近代日本語の間接疑問構文とその周辺 ―従属カ節を持つ構文のネットワーク―」. 国立国語研究所 (NINJAL), 統語・意味解析コーパスの開発と統合的研究プロジェクト. https://www2.ninjal.ac.jp/past-projects/j-int/wp-jint/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/ ↩

  7. Bunpro. "Question-phrase + か (JLPT N4)." https://bunpro.jp/grammar_points/question-phrase-%E3%81%8B ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Maggie Sensei. "How to use 〜か／〜かどうか ( = ~ ka/ ~ ka douka)." https://maggiesensei.com/2019/12/18/how-to-use-%E3%80%9C%E3%81%8B%EF%BC%8F%E3%80%9C%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%8B-ka-ka-douka/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. JLPT Sensei. "JLPT N4 Grammar: かどうか (ka dou ka) Meaning." https://jlptsensei.com/learn-japanese-grammar/%E3%81%8B%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%8B-ka-dou-ka-meaning/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. 日本語教師のN1et (nihongokyoshi-net). 「【JLPT N4】文法・例文：（疑問詞）〜か」. https://nihongokyoshi-net.com/2020/01/28/jlptn4-grammar-ka/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  11. Coto Academy. "JLPT N4 Grammar: 〜かどうか (How to say 'Whether or not~' in Japanese)." https://cotoacademy.com/jlpt-n4-grammar-japanese-kadouka-meaning/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4