Grammar Info

N4 Lesson 3: 12/18

かなI wonder

Structure

Sentence + かな

Details

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    Standard

About かな

Originally a mixture of the sentence ending particles か, and な, かな evolved over time to become its own (singular) sentence ending particle, which roughly translates as 'I wonder if (A)?'.

As it is a sentence ending particle, かな can be added to the end of almost any sentence. However, in the case of な-adjectives, both だ and です will usually be omitted, with かな simply following the word stem itself.

Combining the meanings か and な, we can see where かな gets its original meaning. か presents questions (usually to other people), while な shows that a statement is related purely to the speaker's own thoughts/opinions. In this way, かな expresses that the speaker's own thoughts are being questioned.

Fun Fact

In the past, かな was thought of as being a fairly feminine way to express 'I wonder', and males tended to use phrases like だろうか to express the same type of statement. However, in modern day Japanese, かな is used by both men and women equally.

Related

Examples

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    もうすぐ食(た)べに行(い)くかな。

    I wonder if we will go eat soon...

    明日(あした)は運動(うんどう)をした方(ほう)がいいかな。

    I wonder, if I should exercise tomorrow...

    今週末(こんしゅうまつ)に友達(ともだち)と会(あ)えるかな。

    I wonder if I can meet my friends this weekend...

    冷蔵庫(れいぞうこ)にケーキまだあるかな。

    I wonder if there is still cake in the fridge.

    お母(かあ)さんは何(なに)をくれるかな。

    I wonder what my mom will give me.

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かな – Grammar Discussion

Most Recent Replies (10 in total)

  • ThiagoIanuch

    ThiagoIanuch

    A little late, but I had the same question, but I found the answer when reading about the use of かな on MaggieSensei’s website:

    https://maggiesensei.com/2014/05/26/how-to-use-〜かな-kana/

    Note: If you want to stress uncertainty or your doubt, about whether you can do something or not, you add の(=no)

    →のかな ( = no kana)

    (after a noun, na-adjective add なの ( = nano)

    I believe this should be mentioned in this bunpro lesson.

  • LucasSerafim

    LucasSerafim

    I also got very confused with the の used with some of the examples =/.
    I could not tell where it came from. At first I thought it was nominalization, but it doesn´t seen to be the case.

  • John-Bunpro

    John-Bunpro

    Just to clarify here, the の in のかな is the same as the one in the so-called ‘explanatory’ or ‘contextual’ -んです-のです grammar point (which also is technically a nominalizer or ‘dummy noun’, but it’s a specific usage of it).

    This can be a tricky point to understand because it doesn’t necessarily show up in a natural English translation, but the point is that it’s always connecting what’s being said to something in the larger context.

    A relatively straightforward example I like to use is: say you’re at the office and need to ask a co-worker something. If he seems busy typing something at his computer and you genuinely weren’t sure if it was okay or not, you might say, あっ、すみません。ちょっといいですか？ (or ちょっといいかな？ if you were relatively close friends as well as co-workers and around the same age).

    On the other hand, if you approached him, and he notic...

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