今日は何日ですか？
kyō wa nannichi desu ka?
In Japanese, 'what is the date today?' is expressed as 今日は何日ですか？ (kyō wa nannichi desu ka?)
This phrase is used to ask for the current day of the month. If you want to ask specifically for the date in a formal context, you can use 今日の日付は何ですか？ If you are simply asking 'What day is it?' in a formal manner, you may use 何日ですか？ To ask about the date in the past, such as 'What was the date yesterday?', you can use the informal phrase 昨日は何日だった？
What does it mean word for word?
The core of the question is 何日 (nannichi), which means 'what day (of the month)'. This is composed of nan (what) and nichi (day/month).
Which one should you use?
You can use 今日の日付は何？ to ask 'What is today's date?' informally or 今日は何日？ to ask 'What day is it today?' informally. For a very polite or indirect approach, such as 'Could you tell me what today's date is?', use 今日は何日でしょうか？
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
For more formal situations, use 今日の日付は何ですか？ or 何日ですか？ To be even more indirect and polite, use 今日は何日でしょうか？ In informal settings with friends or family, you can drop the desu ka at the end to say 今日は何日？ or 今日の日付は何？
How does it change in a sentence?
The particle は (wa) in the phrase marks 今日 (kyō/today) as the topic of the sentence.
How do you pronounce it?
kyō wa nannichi desu ka?
Did you know?
- Japanese often uses the era name of the current Emperor, such as Reiwa, to state the year instead of the Western Gregorian calendar.
- While 何日 (nannichi) asks for the date, the word for 'day' changes completely for the first ten days of the month, using special readings like tsuitachi for the 1st and mikka for the 3rd.
- In Japan, the date is written starting with the year, then the month, and finally the day. If you ask for the date, the answer will follow this descending order of scale, which is the opposite of the English format.
Examples in context
- すみません、今日は何日ですか？Sumimasen, kyou wa nannichi desu ka?Excuse me, what is the date today?
- 今日は何日ですか？カレンダーを見てください。Kyou wa nannichi desu ka? Karendaa o mite kudasai.What is the date today? Please look at the calendar.
- 今日は何日ですか？忘れてしまいました。Kyou wa nannichi desu ka? Wasurete shimaimashita.What is the date today? I forgot.
Example conversation
Ren asks Misaki about the date while working in an office.
- 蓮 Ren美咲さん、今日は何日ですか？Misaki-san, kyou wa nannichi desu ka?Misaki, what is the date today?
- 美咲 Misaki今日は十月五日ですよ。Kyou wa juugatsu itsuka desu yo.Today is October 5th.
- 蓮 Renありがとうございます。Arigatou gozaimasu.Thank you.
- 美咲 Misakiいいえ、どういたしまして。Iie, douitashimashite.No, you're welcome.
