かいan older person's gentle question
かい asks a yes-or-no question in a kindly, casual voice. Today it is mostly older people who say it, men more than women, and you will meet it far more in stories than in real life.
Did you have fun at school today?
Is here okay?
How to form it
Plain form + かい
行くかい, 行ったかい, 寒いかい. A noun or a な-adjective drops だ: 元気かい. It is for yes-or-no questions; with a question word the ending is usually だい: どうだい, どこへ行くんだい.
- Who says it
- Mostly older people. From a young person it can sound like putting on a voice.
- Said to
- Someone younger or close: a child, a junior, an old friend. Not someone above you.
- The tone
- Warm and unhurried. A plain か after the same words is blunt.
- Where you'll meet it
- Novels, manga, anime, films and translated stories, where kindly older characters talk this way.
In use
Are you ready for the journey?
Want to rest for a bit?
Is that the new teacher?
Two you will hear in films and anime: いいかい, "now listen", before someone is told what to do, and そうかい, "is that so?".
Now listen, you wait right here.
One to recognize
To ask a friend, people say the plain form with a rising voice.
Will you come again tomorrow?
A grandfather, to a child.
Close neighbours
の？N5
How anyone asks family or a friend about something they have noticed.
You're packing your things—are you leaving already?
Check yourself
1Who is most likely to be saying this?
元気だったかい。
Choose an answer to see why.
2Which one fits?
もう
Choose an answer to see why.
More detail
んかい on comedy shows
A shouted んかい is something else: a comedian's comeback, from Kansai speech. Young people say it for a laugh.
So you're eating it after all!
More sentences
Are you heading home now?
Are you still sleepy?
Is this the right road?
Was the room quiet?
Did you bring an umbrella?