When learning Japanese, you may often hear the phrase “どこですか? doko desu ka?” Do you know what it means and how it is used? What does it actually do? For example, is it important to know this phrase?
The interrogative phrase “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” may sound easy. However, if you master it, you can get away with many urgent situations. The interrogative phrase “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” is essential for asking about a place or destination you want to go to. You can also use it to ask about the location of a place you don’t know.
Therefore, it’s important to understand the meaning and use of “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)”. In a particularly urgent situation, for example, if you are lost somewhere, you can ask where you are and call the police to help you find your way home. Let’s learn more about this very important “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” phrase that is often found in everyday Japanese conversation.
In addition, for more insight into other Japanese phrases commonly used in everyday conversation in Japan, check out our recommendations below:
Read also:
15 Great Ways to Say Thank You in Japanese
11 Great Ways to Express Sorry in Japanese
How are You in Japanese
Contents
“どこですか ? (doko desu ka?)” meaning in English
First, let’s learn the meaning of ‘doko desu ka’ in English. Doko desu ka’ is a very common Japanese phrase. Japanese people use this phrase in everyday conversation. Yes, many times! What does ‘doko desu ka’ mean in English?
It actually means “where is it? To understand this sentence as well as the Japanese, we need to know every meaning of the word. Therefore, we need to break down each word in this sentence to get the overall meaning. Simply put, you can ask where things are by using the phrase “doko desu ka?
Also note that Japanese uses fewer vowels and consonants than English. Translating Japanese would usually be very difficult if you used the Latinate word as in English and many other languages. The easiest way to learn Japanese is to use the Japanese characters themselves.
The structure & definitions of “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)”
“どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” is a Japanese phrase for asking about a place or location. In Japanese, any sentence that ends with ~ka with rising intonation is a question sentence. This phrase is very important and useful for you when you come to Japan. Let’s break down each meaning of the word to understand the overall meaning of this phrase.
The sentence “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” consists of 3 words, as follows.
| Word in Romaji | Word in Japanese | Meaning in English | |
| (1) doko | どこ | Where | |
| (2) desu | です | is – the polite form of the copula verb | |
| (3) ka? | か？ | question word that indicates a sentence is a question |
Pattern:
どこ (Doko) + です (Desu) + か (ka)?
Where is (it)?
How to write “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” in Japanese?
Having trouble typing the Japanese word into the translator using romaji or the alphabet? Same here. This is our help for you.
As mentioned above, it would be very difficult to get the meaning of a Japanese word using characters other than the Japanese ones. In the case of doko desu ka, here is how to write this phrase in Japanese.
To write the sentences doko desu ka, you just need to use hiragana as follows.
”どこですか？” 〜 do (ど) ko (こ) de (で) su (す) ka (か) ？
Also, in the sentence ‘doko desu ka? is the word doko. For the other word, desu and ka, you just need to write them in hiragana. Then you can write doko with hiragana or kanji. Do you know the kanji for doko? There are 3 kanji for doko as shown below.
Doko: 何処 何處 何所
According to Furigana Bunko Website, nearly 75% of Japanese use 何処 as the Kanji of doko. Other than this, the top 2 and 3 most common Kanji for doko are 何處 (9.9%) and 何所 (6.2%), respectively. Choosing one of these 2 words would not be bad.
“どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” in JLPT
If you want to know the level of the sentences doko desu ka in Japanese. Here is the right explanation for you.
The sentence doko desu ka is made up of the word doko, which means where or what place in Japanese. Doko is a Japanese pronoun and is on the N5 level of the JLPT.
Similar word to “どこ (doko)”
“どこですか? (Doko desu ka?)” is truly a common phrase when asking for the location(s) in Japanese. Unfortunately, the culture of respecting social status is very strong in Japan. You can’t say this to your boss or someone you respect. So here are the other polite words you need to know. Using them will make your Japanese sound nicer and softer!
If you want to use another word instead of doko when asking for the location, the options below would be the best choices depending on the location.
- For the unspecified place: どちらですか? dochira desu ka? (very polite sentence)
- Of the place, you barely know: どこかしら doko kashira, どちらかしら dochira kashira
The example of the sentences using ”どこですか? (doko desu ka?)”
To understand how and when to use the sentence “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)”, please see the example below.
| Example | Romaji (How to Read) | Meaning in English |
| Asking position ここはどこですか？ | Koko wa doko desu ka? | Where is here? |
| Asking place 博物館はどこですか？ | Hakubutsukan wa doko desu ka? | Where is the museum? |
| Asking object お皿はどこですか？ | Osara wa doko desu ka? | Where is the plate? |
| Asking person 田中さんはどこですか？ | Tanaka san wa doko desu ka? | Where is Mr. Tanaka? |
Learning about 〜はどこですか ? (~wa doko desu ka?)
As you may have noticed in the previous part, the particle wa (は) always precedes the sentence doko desu ka. Please note that the most common structure of this sentence is actually with the following object.
Topic (Object/Subject/Place) + wa (は) + doko desu ka?
Have a look at the short dialog below:
| Original Dialogue in Japanese | Dialogue In Romaji | Dialogue In English |
| A: 彼の本はどこですか？ B: 机の上です。 | A: Kare no hong wa doko desu ka? B: Tsukue no ue desu. | A: Where is his book? B: It is on the desk. |
| A：最初の写真はどこですか？ B：きれいですね。 | A: Saisho no shashin wa dokodesu ka? B: Kireidesu ne. | A: Where was the first picture taken? B: It looks beautiful. |
| A: あなたがずっと行きたかった場所はどこですか？。 B: 日本です。 | A: Anata ga zutto ikitakatta basho wa dokodesu ka? B: Nihondesu. | A: Where are the places you have always wanted to go? B: It is Japan. |
| A: ご出身はどこですか。 B:日本から参りました。 | A: Go shusshin wa dokodesu ka? B: Nihon kara mairimashita. | A: Where are you from? B: I’m from Japan. |
| A: 完了することができないのはどこですか？ B: 参考文献の所ですが、、 | A: Kanryō suru koto ga dekinai no wa dokodesu ka? B: Sankō bunken no tokorodesuga,, | A: Where is the part that you cannot finish? B: The reference parts,.. |
How do you say “どこですか? (where are you?)” in Japanese?
There are 2 ways to say “where are you” in Japanese. These are the most common and polite ways that Japanese often use in everyday conversation. Which are they? Take a look below!
| Sentences | Meaning in English |
| (1) あなたはどこですか？ Anata wa doko desu ka? | Where are you? |
| (2) どこにいますか？ Doko ni imasu ka? | Where are (you) at? |
In general, you can use the sentences above with anyone. If you want to make them more casual, just change the end of the word as follows?
| Sentences | Meaning in English |
| (1)あなたはどこ？ Anata wa doko? | Where are you? |
| (2)どこにいるの？ Doko ni iru no? | Where are (you) at? |
When you remove ~desu and ~masu from your sentences, it automatically becomes casual. You can hear these patterns in the casual Japanese conversations in anime or J-drama.
Learning the meaning of “トイレはどこですか ? (Toire wa doko desu ka?)”
As you can hear in every Japanese book most of the time. Exactly! The phrase ‘Toire wa doko desu ka? is a very important but useful phrase. When you come to Japan, you must have plenty of opportunities to use this phrase, right? I think you want to get into trouble to find the toilet when you need it the most.
The original sentences written in Japanese is トイレはどこですか？ (toire wa doko desu ka?) means Where is a toilet? Or where is the toilet?
Structure: Topic (Subject/Object/Place) + wa (Particle means is or ‘to be’)+ doko desu ka? (where)
You can use this pattern when asking about other rooms, buildings, and many places. For example, the following:
| Sentences | Meaning in English |
| (1) 受付はどこですか？ Uketsuke wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the reception? |
| (2) 郵便局はどこですか？ Yūbinkyoku wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the post office? |
| (3) 教室はどこですか？ Kyōshitsu wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the classroom? |
| (4) 図書館はどこですか？ Toshokan wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the library? |
| (5) 東京駅はどこですか？ Tōkyō Eki wa dokodesu ka? | Where is Tokyo Station? |
Using “どこですか? (Doko desu ka?)” for traveling in Japan
Aside from “toire wa doko desu ka?”, there are several useful sentences for travelers using ~wa doko desu ka?, please see the following table. Keep in mind that these phrases would help you a lot. So please keep them!
| Sentences | Meaning in English |
| (1) 一番近いホテルはどこですか？ Ichiban chikai hoteru wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the nearest hotel? |
| (2) 交番はどこですか？ Kōban wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the police box? |
| (3) 観光案内所はどこですか？ Kankōan’naijo wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the tourist information center? |
| (4) コンビニはどこですか？ Konbini wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the convenience store? |
| (5) 商店街はどこですか？ Shōten gai wa dokodesu ka? | Where is the shopping street? |
“どこですか? (Doko desu ka?)” VS “どこにいますか? (Doko ni imasu ka?)”
Are you having trouble understanding the meaning of “doko desu ka?” and “doko ni imasu ka? In some cases, these two sentences have the same meaning in English. However, there are other situations where they are different.
People can easily use “doko desu ka?” for all conditions, because it means (where is…). On the other hand, we can use “doko ni imasu ka? only to ask people and to animate things. Why? Because the word ‘imasu’ or ‘iru (casual)’ is a verb that refers to living objects.
We cannot use it for nouns and inanimate objects. Take a look at the following example to learn more!
| Sentences in Japanese | Meaning in English |
| (1) 猫（ねこ）はどこにいますか？ “Neko wa doko ni imasu ka?” | Where is the cat? |
| (2) 彼女（かのじょ）はどこにいますか？ “Kanojo wa doko ni imasu ka?” | Where is she? |
| (3) 先生（せんせい）はどこにいますか？ “Sensei wa doko ni imasu ka?” | Where is the teacher? |
“どこですか? (Doko desu ka?)” VS “どこにありますか? (Doko ni arimasu ka?)”
As mentioned above, doko desu ka has a very neutral meaning. Meanwhile, doko ni arimasu ka is often used for specific cases.
In the sentences “doko ni arimasu ka?” there is the word “arimasu” or “aru,” which is a verb for inanimate objects. We cannot use it for animate things. Please keep this in mind and look at the following example!
| Sentences in Japanese | Meaning in English |
| (1) 部屋（へや）はどこですか？ “Heya wa doko desu ka?” | Where is the rooms? |
| (2) 病院（びょういん）はどこですか？ “Byouin wa doko desu ka?” | Where is the hospital? |
| (3) 鍵（かぎ）はどこですか？ ”Kagi wa doko desu ka? | Where is the key? |
Conclusion
Without a shadow of a doubt, we can conclude the meaning and use of the Japanese phrase, doko desu ka, with the following points:
- “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” means where is (it) in Japanese.
- The phrase “どこですか? (doko desu ka?)” is a very general and neutral yet common phrase in everyday Japanese conversation.
- Memorizing as well as practicing the example sentences would improve our understanding and fluency in Japanese. Please review the example and practice more!
It is common to use the object and particle wa before the phrase doko desu ka? to form a question in Japanese.
