ご家族は何人ですか？
gokazoku wa nannin desu ka?
In Japanese, the phrase used to ask "how many members in your family" is ご家族は何人ですか？ (gokazoku wa nannin desu ka?)
This phrase is a standard, polite way to ask about family size in social settings. It specifically asks for the total number of people in someone's family.
What does it mean word for word?
The question word 何人 means "how many people." The ending ですか is a polite way to turn the sentence into a question.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The most formal version is ご家族は何人ですか？ You can make the phrase less formal and more suitable for casual conversation with acquaintances by removing the honorific prefix ご from ご家族, resulting in 家族は何人ですか？ For a fully informal way to ask, use 家族は何人いるの？
How does it change in a sentence?
When counting people in Japanese, the counter nin is used, which is incorporated into the question word nannin. In the informal version 家族は何人いるの？, the verb いる is used as the informal verb for "to be" when asking about the presence of family members.
How do you pronounce it?
gokazoku wa nannin desu ka?
Did you know?
- If you are asked about your own family, you should never use the prefix ご found in ご家族, as that prefix is reserved for showing respect to other people's families.
- When counting people in Japanese, the number 'one' is not 一人 (ichinin), but is instead pronounced as 一人 (hitori).
- If you want to ask about the number of people in a household rather than a biological family, you would replace 家族 with 世帯 (setai), a term used primarily in census and official documents.
Examples in context
- ご家族は何人ですか？Gokazoku wa nannin desu ka?How many members in your family?
- すみません、ご家族は何人ですか？Sumimasen, gokazoku wa nannin desu ka?Excuse me, how many members are in your family?
Example conversation
Two students are chatting during a lunch break.
- 大翔 Hiroto結衣さん、ご家族は何人ですか？Yui-san, go-kazoku wa nan-nin desu ka?Yui, how many people are in your family?
- 結衣 Yui四人家族です。父と母と妹がいます。Yo-nin kazoku desu. Chichi to haha to imōto ga imasu.There are four of us. My father, mother, and younger sister.
- 大翔 Hirotoそうなんですね。仲が良いですか？Sō nan desu ne. Naka ga ii desu ka?I see. Do you get along well?
- 結衣 Yuiはい、とても仲が良いですよ。Hai, totemo naka ga ii desu yo.Yes, we get along very well.
