Turning a statement into a question

In English, “You are a student” becomes “Are you a student?” Japanese keeps the order and adds か at the end: 学生がくせい です → 学生がくせい です か。 There is no need to move です to the front or add a word like “do.”

Answer with はい (“yes”) or いいえ (“no”), then repeat only what is needed. 「医者いしゃ です か。」→「はい、医者いしゃ です。」 means “Are you a doctor?” → “Yes, I am.” Japanese can leave out the topic when both speakers know who they mean.

These examples end with 。, the Japanese period. In formal writing, か already marks a question, so ？ is not necessary. You will still see question marks in everyday Japanese, and spoken questions can have rising intonation.