GrammarJLPT N5
→ when
When / At What Time
JLPT N5Other (Interrogative pronoun / Question word)Neutral
いつ is one of the fundamental interrogative words (question words) in Japanese, used to ask about the time or occasion of an event. It corresponds to English "when" or "at what time" and can appear in both direct questions and embedded (indirect) questions. Unlike English, いつ does not require any change in word order; it simply replaces the time expression in a sentence. It can be combined with particles such as に, から, まで, and ごろ to create more specific time-related questions like いつから (since when), いつまで (until when), and いつごろ (around when). It is important not to confuse いつ with いつも (always) or いつか (someday), which are derived from いつ but have distinct meanings and are not used as question words.
Examples
Example #1
テストは いつ ですか。
This is the most basic use of いつ, asking about when a future event is scheduled. Here いつ replaces the unknown time in the sentence. The topic テスト is marked with は, and いつ simply sits where the time word would normally go. No particle is needed after いつ in this pattern because the copula です directly follows it.When is the test?
Structures
- Basic question
- いつ + Predicate (verb / adjective / noun + です) + か
- With particle
- いつ + Particle (に / から / まで / ごろ) + Predicate + か
Common mistakes
A common mistake is confusing いつ (when — a question word) with いつも (always) or いつか (someday / sometime). While they share the same root, their meanings are completely different and they cannot be interchanged. Another frequent error is unnecessarily adding the particle は after いつ in a basic question, producing something like いつは instead of just いつ. Additionally, learners sometimes confuse いつ with 何時（なんじ）; remember that 何時 asks for a specific clock time (e.g., 3 o'clock), while いつ asks about a date, day, or general occasion. Finally, in embedded questions, some learners drop the か after the embedded clause, but か is essential to mark the indirect question.
Related
いつもいつかいつまで何時（なんじ）いつごろどのくらい