How to say "What" or "How" in Japanese

If you are wondering what's the Japanese word for "What" or "How" you've come to the right place!

the Japanese word for "What" or "How" is "Ikaga", written in japanese as "如何".

Here's a more detailed explanation:

The Japanese adjectival noun '如何 (いかが)' is used to inquire about the state, condition, or quality of something. It can mean 'how' or 'what' depending on the context. It is often used in polite or formal situations to ask for opinions or to make suggestions. For example: How is the weather?「天気は如何ですか？」(てんきはいかがですか). What do you think?「ご意見は如何ですか？」(ごいけんはいかがですか). It can also be used to make polite offers, such as: Would you like some tea?「お茶はいかがですか？」(おちゃはいかがですか). The word carries a nuance of politeness and is commonly used in formal conversations or customer service settings.

The Kanji are characters that represent meanings. As you can see, this word is made up of 2 Kanji:

The kanji "如" means "As" and "Likeness" and can be read as "Jo", "Nyo" and "Goto". And The kanji "何" means "What" and can be read as "Nani" and "Nan".

Now, let's make sure you understand this word the other way around too.

What does "Ikaga" mean in japanese?

"Ikaga" means "What" or "How" .

To learn more about the kanji in this word, checkout this pages:

If you also want to learn how to write this word in Japanese, you can checkout this page:

How to write "What" or "How" in Japanese

To make really sure you learn this word, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this word and of the characters that comprise it.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "じ" is read as "ji". The hiragana "に" is read as "ni". The hiragana "ご" is read as "go". The hiragana "と" is read as "to". The hiragana "な" is read as "na". The hiragana "ん" is read as "n". The hiragana "い" is read as "i". The hiragana "か" is read as "ka". And The hiragana "が" is read as "ga".

About kanji, you need to know that most Kanji have two types of readings: Kunyomi, based on native japanese pronunciation. And onyomi, based on chinese pronunciation.