In conversation, は marks the topic of a question just as it does in a statement. What follows depends on what you want to know.

The idea

A plain yes–no question can end without か and often rises in pitch: 明日は雨？ means ‘Will it rain tomorrow?’ An isolated topic plus は, as in 田中さんは？, leaves the rest understood from the conversation. For a polite question, use ですか or ますか.

Patterns to compare
Without かWith か
田中たなかさんは学生がくせい？田中たなかさんは学生がくせいですか。
明日あしたは雨あめ？明日あしたは雨あめですか。
それは何なん？それは何なんですか。

Examples

  • 田中たなかさんは学生がくせい？Is Tanaka a student?
  • これはペン？Is this a pen?
  • 明日あしたは雨あめ？Will it rain tomorrow?
  • それは何なん？What is that?
  • 駅えきに友ともだちはいる？Is a friend at the station?
  • 私わたしは学生がくせいだ。田中たなかさんは？I am a student. What about you, Tanaka?

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

は itself is a topic marker, not a question word. Rising pitch and context signal a question; 何 asks for information and need not have the same yes–no intonation. A bare は question needs enough shared context.

Try it yourself

  1. 私わたしは学生がくせい。田中たなかさん＿＿？（を／で／は／に）

    Show answer or example answer

    は

    は introduces Tanaka as the new topic; the previous sentence supplies what is being asked.

  2. 「明日あしたは雨あめ？」「うん、＿＿。」（雨あめじゃない／雨あめ）

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    雨

    雨 completes an affirmative answer: うん agrees that it will rain.

  3. 「私わたしはコーヒー。田中たなかさんは？」田中たなかさんは何なにを＿＿か。（読よみます／飲のみます）

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    飲みます

    飲みます fits because the preceding exchange is about a drink; the omitted question concerns what Tanaka drinks.

Use it today

Tell a partner what you drink, then ask the same about them with は？. Rephrase a full question politely with ですか.