でしょうかa softer, more careful question
でしょうか asks a question more softly than ですか. It doesn't press for an answer, so people use it with strangers, customers, teachers and bosses: at a counter, on the phone, in email.
asking for information
How late is reception open?
asking if it is all right
May I use this seat?
softening a request
Excuse me, could you explain this part once more?
How to form it
Plain form + でしょうか
行くでしょうか, 高いでしょうか. A noun or a な-adjective drops だ: 三時でしょうか, 可能でしょうか. It also follows a question word: いつでしょうか. As with でしょう, the word before it stays plain.
ですか, でしょうか or でしょう？
でしょう is a guess. With か you ask the other person for their guess: "would it be…?". That leaves them room not to know, and the room is what makes it polite.
Does the meeting start at three?
Polite and direct. Right for most questions.
Would the meeting be at three?
Softer. You don't know, and you don't press.
The meeting starts at three, right?
Without か, and with a rising voice, it does the opposite: it expects a yes.
Asking for information
When is the deadline for this application form?
Who is in charge of this?
Can I change my reservation by phone as well?
Asking if it is all right: よろしいでしょうか
よろしい is the polite いい. よろしいでしょうか is "would that be all right?": how people ask permission and check arrangements at work, and what staff say to customers.
Would it be all right to have next week's meeting online?
It softens a request, but doesn't make one
The asking is done by もらえない or いただけない, and でしょうか makes it softer still. By itself it only asks a question.
Would you mind opening the window?
A request.
Will they open the window, I wonder?
Not a request. It asks what someone will do.
Not with friends
With friends and family it is far too stiff. There the soft question is かな.
Three you'll hear
いかがでしょうかhow about…?; how is it?
How about this color?
Shop staff. いかが is the polite どう.
何でしょうかyes, what is it?
Yes, how can I help you?
The answer when someone says すみません to you.
どちら様でしょうかmay I ask who you are?
Excuse me, may I ask who's calling?
On the phone, or at the door.
Close neighbours
でしょう・だろうN5
Without か: "probably" with a falling voice, "right?" with a rising one.
It will probably rain tomorrow.
かなN4
The same soft question among friends, and "I wonder" to yourself.
Is nine okay for meeting up tomorrow?
The careful way to ask a favor. With でしょうか, as ていただけないでしょうか, it is softer again.
Would you be able to extend the deadline by one day?
Check yourself
1A colleague says this to you. What is she doing?
締め切りは
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one asks someone to turn the heating on?
Choose an answer to see why.
3You are messaging a close friend about dinner. Which one fits?
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
んでしょうか
With ん, it asks carefully about the reason behind something.
Excuse me, why is it closed today?
Wondering aloud
Said to no one in particular, it is a polite "I wonder". TV narrators put questions to viewers this way.
Will it be sunny tomorrow, I wonder?
ますでしょうか
In shops and business email you will meet ます before it. It is very common, and some people find it overdone.
Could I ask you to wait a moment?
More sentences
Where will the next information session be held?
Is it all right to go ahead with these details?
Could you send the receipt by email?
Could you write your name here?