How do you say "Do you speak japanese"

[nipponguy]

I've always heard it as:

Nihongo ga wakarimasu ka?
or
Nihongo ga hanasemasu ka?

I'm sure someone else had it correct but I'm still not too great at my Kanji yet...

-Jeff

[chryuop]

The way I was taught is that both are correct when marking the direct object of a potential form, actually all three of them: を、が、は. Anyway, using one instead of the others is not a toss a coin to pick which one you want. They all have a certain difference in meaning. Let's see if I can get them right
日本語を話せる puts the stress on the fact that I am able to speak a language, in this case Japanese.
日本語が話せる puts the stress on the Japanese language.
日本語は話せる stresses the fact that I can speak Japanese and only that.
The way I see it is を shows you can speak a language, が that you can speak that certain language and は that you can speak only that language.

WAIT FOR CONFIRMATION! Unfortunately the が/は are kinda easy to be mixed up in my head. On one side mi brain says yes it is correct, on the other side it keeps saying "no it is the opposite coz は has also the meaning of at least". Wait for someone with better knowledge to offer you the truth

[kirakira]

Originally Posted by MMM

No need to ramp up the language, Shad0w. It means "can do" form.

In Japanese it is 助動詞 if that helps.

Sorry to dig up a old post but "can do" form is called 可能形（かのうけい）which is part of 助動詞 family.

可能 is the sino-Japanese version of 出来る。

[KyleGoetz]

It may be a little late to chime in here, but to answer chryuop's implied question about using を・が・は in the 日本語○話せる context can be answered briefly:

There is a connotative difference between sentences using those three particles
日本語が話せる is the most generally "correct" form. It is neutral in connotation. It's merely a statement of fact.
日本語を話せる is correct, but sounds off a bit. I have heard natives say that this form sounds like it's emphasizing the language a bit, but I've no linguistic sources to back it up. I tend to avoid it because I'm not JLPT1 yet, so I don't consider myself qualified to answer authoritatively.
日本語は話せる is correct, but it definitely carries the extra implication of "I can speak Japanese [as opposed to some other language]." This is because は is used when making contrasting statements.

For example:
日本語は話せるが、英語は話せない。
I can speak Japanese, but I cannot speak English.

Of course, in all of our discussions, we've glossed over the other verb structure: 話すことができる.

A quick point:
Someone way earlier used 出来る. While this may be a correct use of kanji, various Japanese style guides (like Strunk & White's is for English) say that it is "better" to write できる without using the kanji. The sources don't say it's wrong; rather, that it's just better. This is like how it's not wrong to split infinitives in English, but it is better in many (most?) cases not to.

In summary, avoid using を in potential-form sentences unless you're absolutely confident you are right. I've spoken Japanese for years now, and I'm still not confident that I'm right. Stick to the は and が depending on the context I mentioned above, with the default being が unless you're contrasting.

[Tarto]

Hello

I agree with KyleGoetz in that you'd better avoid using を if you're not totally sure about what you're doing, even though it is used a lot (I work for a small Japanese company in Nagoya and it's used a lot in emails for instance).

However, I strongly disagree with the idea that は "definitely carries the extra implication of "I can speak Japanese [as opposed to some other language].". In fact, は has several usages, but only one of them is the expression of a contrast. If you only say 日本語は話せます, it does not imply that you cannot speak other languages.

Note that in actual conversation, は is indeed very often used:
- in a friendly, casual context, the particle is often skipped and the following structures are extremely frequent: 日本語、話せる？, 日本語、わかる？ or 日本語、大丈夫？. Note that 話すことができる is not very common
- in a more polite situation, you would use the ます forms of the previous structures, for instance 日本語は話せますか？, 日本語はわかりますか？, 日本語は大丈夫ですか？ etc.
- if the situation requires you to be very polite, you cannot directly use the potential form as it implies some form of evaluation of the skills of the other person. You must drop the potential form and use keigo instead: 日本語は話されますか？. Note that this is more likely to be asked about another language, since using keigo already implies that the other person speaks Japanese well enough to understand it...

[KyleGoetz]

@Tarto: are you a native Japanese speaker? I ask only because the は as used with potential form signifying an emphasis on Japanese as opposed to another language was basically taught as textbook Japanese to me years ago.

And I didn't mean to imply that using は implies that you can't speak other languages. Perhaps I chose my words errantly.

[Tarto]

No, I think I misunderstood. I made a confusion between "as opposed to some other language" and "but not other languages", which indeed have different meanings.

I am not a native Japanese speaker, and you may have guessed that English is not my first language either. However I intensively studied the language in Japan and now I use it everyday at work (I'm the only foreigner in my company and nobody speaks English). Also, I mostly hang out with Japanese people and I am still studying Japanese with a private teacher.

While I don't have the pretention to speak a perfect Japanese (I consider myself to be still very far from that goal), I am confident regarding the は and the contrast thing.

Maybe there was some confusion in what I wrote. What I don't agree with is the fact that は+potential "definitely carries" the expression of a contrast, I would replace that with "can carry". It is true that between が, は and を, only は can express a contrast, but it also has other usages.

For the sake of clarity, let me give some examples of how the same expression 日本語は話せます can have different meanings depending on the context. Note that intonation is very important to convey the proper meaning:
1) as an explicit contrast: you gave a perfect example

2) as an implicit contrast: let's say someone has implicitly stated that you couldn't speak Italian. In that case, if you say for instance でも日本語は話せます, it means "but I can speak Japanese" (as opposed to Italian). My guess is that the textbook you mentioned was referring to that kind of situation. In that context, it is important that you put the stress on the word 日本語.

3) as an emphasizer: when someone asks you if you can speak Japanese, or doubts that you can speak Japanese, you can reply 日本語は話せますよ, putting the stress on 話せますよ. It means "I can speak Japanese", slightly implying "of course I can", therefore making it unsuitable when you must be very polite because it is a little too direct. This is perfectly ok in most everyday situations though.

4) Other than that, it's the "regular" は that just means you can speak Japanese.

PS: you are totally right regarding the できる thing, the same goes with many other words/expressions, for example the commonly used よろしくお願いします, where it is more natural to write よろしく than its kanji equivalent 宜しく.

[KyleGoetz]

Tarto, thanks for that explanation. I understand it better now. I've wondered about case #3 simply because I knew that は can be used to emphasize things, but I tended to avoid such a statement since I'm not fluent (yet).

Just out of curiosity, what is your native language? Because I sure didn't sense an inkling of "second languageness" when reading your posts.

As a side note, another interesting stylistic thing is the fact that you write 下さる and its many conjugations when using it as a regular verb (ピザを下さい). However, when you use it as an auxiliary, you eschew the kanji (食べてください).

[Tarto]

Actually, I am mixed French/Japanese (my mother is Japanese). I was born and grew up in France, and I did not learn to speak Japanese when I was young, something I eventually became frustrated with, which is why I eventually decided to come to Japan.

[chryuop]

Originally Posted by KyleGoetz

Tarto, thanks for that explanation. I understand it better now. I've wondered about case #3 simply because I knew that は can be used to emphasize things, but I tended to avoid such a statement since I'm not fluent (yet).

Just out of curiosity, what is your native language? Because I sure didn't sense an inkling of "second languageness" when reading your posts.

As a side note, another interesting stylistic thing is the fact that you write 下さる and its many conjugations when using it as a regular verb (ピザを下さい). However, when you use it as an auxiliary, you eschew the kanji (食べてください).

Sorry if I jump in here. If I well remember Nagoyankeeさん explained once how it can be found in both ways: 下さい and ください.