〜かどうか whether or not: Meaning & Examples

How 〜かどうか works

It packages a yes/no question into a noun-like clause you can drop inside a bigger sentence: 来るかどうか分かりません is “I don’t know whether he’s coming.” Attach it to plain forms, and drop だ after nouns and な-adjectives (本物かどうか, 必要かどうか). The one rule that catches everybody: どうか is the “or not” half, so it only fits a yes/no question — when the embedded question uses who, where or when, you use bare か instead.

構文こうぶんConstruction

• Verb / い-adjective (plain) + かどうか

  間に合うかどうか分かりません。 — I don’t know whether we’ll make it in time.

• Noun / な-adjective (no だ) + かどうか

  本物かどうか調べてください。 — Please check whether it’s genuine.

• Followed by verbs of knowing, checking, deciding, worrying

  来られるかどうか、聞いてみます。 — I’ll ask whether they can come.

• Question-word question → か alone, never かどうか

  誰が来るか分かりません。 — I don’t know who’s coming.

例文れいぶんIn a sentence

注意点ちゅういてんNuances

• ×誰が来るかどうか is wrong because “who” has no opposite.
• Nouns and な-adjectives lose their だ before it: 学生かどうか, 便利かどうか — never ×学生だかどうか.
• The whole clause behaves like a noun, so it can take を or が: 行くかどうかを決めました. In speech that particle is usually dropped.
• かどうか is neutral. It says the question is open and takes no position on which way it will go — that is what makes it the polite way to raise an uncertain point.

練習れんしゅうYour Turn

Tip

Say three things about tomorrow you honestly don’t know yet, each with 〜かどうか. Then say one thing you don’t know that starts with a question word, using plain か — and see why どうか can’t go there.

〜かどうか (whether or not) in real sentences

Each one is quoted from a published Japanese text in this library and links to the story it came from. Some use older spellings, or break off where the sentence carried on. They are transcribed exactly as their authors wrote them.

確認かくにんSelf-check

Practise 〜かどうか: fill in the blank

3 sentences taken from real Japanese texts, with the grammar removed. Pick what belongs in the gap.

Question 1 of 3

1. 成仏したblank知らぬ

   かどうかてあげるしかないはずです
   Skip — show me the answer

   Answer: かどうか — from The Ghost of the Residence (N1)

2. よくごらんよ。わたしの頭に毛があるblank。

   てあげるかどうかてくれるしかない
   Skip — show me the answer

   Answer: かどうか — from The Crab's Barber Business (N4)

3. 金博士が睡ったblankをみるために、うっかり金博士の部屋に入ったではありませんか。

   てしまうてくれるかどうかてあげる
   Skip — show me the answer

   Answer: かどうか — from The Embassy's Cleanup Agency (N1)

Read the texts these came from →

Appears in 13 of 367 texts in our library.