今日は何してるの？
kyō wa nani shiteru no?
In Japanese, "what are you doing today?" is said as 今日は何してるの？ (kyō wa nani shiteru no?)
This phrase can be used to ask about someone's immediate current actions or their general plans for the remainder of the day.
What does it mean word for word?
今日 (kyō) means "today", 何 (nani) means "what" and してる (shiteru) means "doing".
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
The default form 今日は何してるの? is informal and should be used with friends, family or peers. For a polite version suitable for strangers or superiors, you can use 今日は何をしていますか? The most formal way to ask is 今日（きょう）は何（なに）をしていらっしゃいますか?
How does it change in a sentence?
The form してる (shiteru) is a contraction of shite iru, which represents the continuous aspect (doing) of the verb suru (to do).
How do you pronounce it?
kyō wa nani shiteru no?
Did you know?
- Using the polite していますか？ (shite imasu ka?) with a close friend can be a way of creating 'emotional distance' to signal that you are upset or being sarcastic.
- In Japanese, it is often more natural to omit the word 'you' entirely, as including it can sound unnaturally pointed or even aggressive in certain contexts.
- In casual texting, the phrase 何してるの？ is often shortened even further to 何してんの？ (nani shiten no?), where the る (ru) changes to ん (n).
Examples in context
- 今日は何してるの？Kyō wa shiteru no?What are you doing today?
- 予定を聞きたいんだけど、今日は何してるの？Yotei o kikitai ndakedo, kyō wa shiteru no?I want to ask your plans, so what are you doing today?
Example conversation
Misaki calls Kenta to see if he wants to hang out.
- 美咲 Misaki健太、今日は何してるの？Kenta, kyō wa shiteru no?Kenta, what are you doing today?
- 健太 Kenta特に何もしていないよ。Tokuni nani mo shite inai yo.I'm not doing anything in particular.
- 美咲 Misakiじゃあ、一緒に買い物に行かない？Jā, issho ni kaimono ni ikanai?Then, do you want to go shopping together?
- 健太 Kentaいいね、行こう！Ii ne, ikō!Sounds good, let's go!
