GrammarJLPT N5
だれ
→ who
Who (Interrogative Pronoun)
JLPT N5Other (Interrogative pronoun)Neutral
誰 (だれ) is the basic Japanese interrogative pronoun meaning "who." It is used to ask about the identity of a person and can appear in various positions within a sentence, combined with different particles to ask questions like "who is it?" (誰ですか), "whose?" (誰の), "with whom?" (誰と), and "to whom?" (誰に). In neutral or casual speech, 誰 is the standard word for "who," while the more polite equivalent is どなた, which is preferred in formal or honorific contexts. Like other Japanese question words, 誰 does not require special word order — the sentence structure stays the same as a statement, but with the unknown person replaced by 誰 and a question marker (か or rising intonation) at the end. 誰 can also form compound expressions such as 誰か (someone) and 誰も (everyone / no one, depending on the verb polarity), making it a foundational word for learners to master early.
Functions
#1 Asking about identity
Structure
〜は 誰 ですか
あの人は誰ですか。
This is the most fundamental use of 誰, where you simply ask about the identity of a person. Here, 誰 takes the place of the unknown person in a standard A は B です sentence. The topic あの人 is marked with は, and 誰 fills the predicate slot, followed by ですか to form a polite question.Who is that person?
Structures
- Basic question
- 誰 + Particle + Verb / Adjective / です(か)
- Asking identity
- Subject / Topic は + 誰 + ですか
Common mistakes
A very common mistake is using は instead of が when 誰 is the subject of the question. Learners often say 「誰はしましたか」 instead of the correct 「誰がしましたか」. Remember that interrogative words acting as subjects require が. Another frequent error is confusing 誰 with どなた in terms of register — using 誰 in very formal situations where どなた would be more appropriate can sound blunt. Additionally, beginners sometimes confuse 誰か (someone, in statements) with 誰 (who, in questions), not realizing that adding か after 誰 inside a statement turns it from a question word into an indefinite pronoun meaning "someone."
Related
何どこどれどなた誰か