What does it mean word for word?
The sentence consists of several parts: 彼女 (kanojo) means "she", the particle は (wa) functions as a topic marker to indicate the subject, 誰 (dare) is the interrogative pronoun for "who".
Which one should you use?
While 彼女は誰ですか？ is a standard way to ask the question, you may encounter other forms. For example, 彼女は誰？ is used to ask "who is she?" in an informal way and あの子は誰？ is used to ask "who is that girl?" informally. If you want to be more polite or respectful, it is often more natural in Japanese to avoid the pronoun "she" and instead refer to the person as "that person" using あの方はどなたですか？
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
彼女は誰ですか？ is a formal way to ask the question. In contrast, 彼女は誰？ is an informal version where the desu ka is dropped and the question is marked by just dare?
How does it change in a sentence?
The particle は (wa) marks the topic of the sentence. The word 誰 (dare) serves as the interrogative pronoun for "who".
How do you pronounce it?
kanojo wa dare desu ka?
Did you know?
- The word 彼女 was not originally used to mean 'she' but was adopted from English during the Meiji era to modernize the language.
- If you are pointing to a woman in a photo, it is often more common to say あの子 (ano ko), which literally means 'that child', even if she is an adult.
- The particle は (wa) is actually written with the character for 'leaf' (ha), despite being pronounced 'wa' in this grammatical role.
Examples in context
- 彼女は誰ですか？ 次郎さんのお姉さんですか？Who is she? Is she Jiro's older sister?
- 彼女は誰？ あの美しい人が田中さんの妹ですよ。Who is she? That beautiful person is Tanaka's younger sister, you know.
- あの子は誰？ 僕の親友の彼女だよ。Who is that girl? She's my best friend's girlfriend.
- 彼女は誰ですか？kanojo wa dare desu ka?Who is she?
- 写真の彼女は誰ですか？shashin no kanojo wa dare desu ka?Who is the woman in the photo?
Example conversation
Yui and Yota are looking at a group photo.
- 結衣 Yui陽太君、この彼女は誰ですか？Yota-kun, kono kanojo wa dare desu ka?Yota, who is she?
- 陽太 Yota彼女は僕の姉です。Kanojo wa boku no ane desu.She is my older sister.
- 結衣 Yuiそうなんですね！Sō nan desu ne!I see!
- 陽太 Yotaはい、とても似ていますよね。Hai, totemo nite imasu yo ne.Yes, we look very much alike.
