Question, is this phrase: "すみません、あのペンは何ですか." The same as "Excuse me, what is that pen?" or is it… - Feed Post by zikex

• 
  zgcchun

  that pen is what will be closer to Japanese expression I think.

  December 30, 2015 at 1:50pm
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  fuonk

  It's a strange question. If you know that the object is a pen, why are you asking what it is? Word order is different in Japanese sentences than in English sentences, so keeping the word order the same does not necessarily give you a better translation. In this case, "... that pen is what?" seems like a very unnatural sentence in English, but I'm not sure what information either question is asking for.

  December 30, 2015 at 3:26pm
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  fuonk

  「あのペンはだれのですか。」 This question asks who the pen belongs to. A natural translation is "Whose pen is that?" You can try to keep the word order the same by asking "That pen, whose is it?", but that is not how the question would normally be asked in English, so in my opinion it is not as good a translation.

  December 30, 2015 at 3:28pm
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  zikex

  So what if the question is referring to a customer asking about a pen in a store? Is it still strange?

  December 31, 2015 at 1:32am
• 
  mog86uk

  I think if customer asked "what is that pen?", it would sound strange even in English?
  
  I can imagine the shopkeeper's response:
  "......... a pen..."

  December 31, 2015 at 2:16am
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  zikex

  Not like that. I meant that if you asked what something is, you would want more information because you don't know much about it. Like asking what that computer is without knowing the type and price of it.

  December 31, 2015 at 2:26am
• 
  beee_17

  In that case, you would want to say something like this:
  「すみません、これはどんなペンですか。」
  
  "Excuse me, what kind of pen is this?"

  December 31, 2015 at 4:22am