Question:

Japanese Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

- 何をしましたか。

- Nani o shimashita ka?

does this sentence mean "what did you do?" or "what are you doing?"

If you wanted to say "what are you doing?" you would say nani o shimasu ka? right?

also, in the above sentence is this を pronounced "wo" or "o"

 Tags:

   Report

3 ANSWERS


  1. 何をしましたか means "What did you do."  When you change ます (masu) to ました(mashita) you're going from non-past tense to past.

    nani o shimasu ka can mean "what are you doing", but this is not as common as nani o shite imasu ka which is a combination of the gerund form of the verb "to do" and the verb "to be/am/is." Shimasu is used more often for future tense then present (If you didn't already know, Japanese doesn't have a separate conjugation for present and future tense verbs).

    を is nearly always pronounced as "o" for any practical use.  It sounds excessively formal to pronounce it as wo, even in a situation that calls for a typical amount of politeness. However, if you do pronounce it as "wo", realize that the "w" sound in wo is not the same as in わ; with "wo" it is a much lighter, less stressed sound.  


  2. 何をしましたか is "what DID you do"

    The tense is past しました so it is 'did'.

    while 'shimasu ka?' can be present tense it is normally used for the future e.g. 'What are you going to do?' 何をしますか

    the present progresive verb is しています 'shiteimasu' so if you want right now you say 何をしていますか 'nani wo shiteimasu ka'

    while the pronunciation guide for を is 'wo' there is no 'w' sound when you say it; it is pronounced the same as お e.g. 'O'

    For more infromation on the conjugation of the verb する see this web page

    http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-b...


  3. "Nani o shimashita ka?" means "what did you do?"

    "を" is pronounced "o"

    If you want to say "what are you doing?", you say "nani o shiteimasu ka?  ÃƒÂ¤Ã‚½Â•Ã£Â‚’していますか。"

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 3 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.