How to Ask "Whose is this?" in Japanese

Video Transcript

"YUU ASAKURA: So now, we're going to learn how to ask: whose book is this? We learned how to say my book, which is "watashi no hon." So let's say "watashi no hon desu." I'm skipping the subject here. I'm just pointing out this book that's right here. We say "watashi no hon desu," okay? So now, let's change this sentence into a question, asking, whose book is this? It's very simple. First of all, you put "ka" at the end. That's the rule. And our next one is you substitute "watashi" into "dare," okay? And "dare" means "who" here. And you just--if it's a person, you change it with "who." So it goes "Dare no hon desu ka?" And he asks whose book is this? And because we used the particle "no" here, we just--you can change the word "watashi" and "dare." Let's practice. You want to ask. There's a cell phone on the table and you want to ask whose cell phone is it. Cell phone is "keitai denwa." "Denwa" is phone and "keitai" is cell. Sometimes, we just use "keitai," so let's talk like a Japanese person. Let's use "keitai" for cell phone. So you want to ask whose cell is it. Yes, "Dare no keitai desu ka?" That's correct."