Translation guide
Expressing 'any person who' or 'the person who' in Japanese, with distinctions between indefinite and specific references.
Whoever wants to come is welcome.
General invitation
Whoever did this must apologize.
Specific unknown person
Referring to an unspecified person or anyone who meets a condition.
Used with a verb or condition to mean 'anyone who' or 'whoever'. It is a general, indefinite expression.
Whoever wants to can participate.
Whoever it is, please help.
A more formal or literary way to say 'whoever', often used in written language or formal speech.
A structure meaning 'no matter who' or 'whoever'. The verb after 誰が is in the て-form plus も.
Whoever comes, I'm going out.
Referring to a specific but unidentified person who did something.
Uses 誰か (someone) with が to indicate that an unknown person performed an action. It implies a specific but unidentified individual.
Whoever broke the window.
Whoever left this book here.
A relative clause with 人 (person) to mean 'the person who'. This is more direct and less indefinite than 誰でも.
Whoever did this, who is it?
Using 'whoever' as a noun clause subject or object, often with emphasis.
Embedded question meaning 'whoever' when used as a subject or object. Often followed by は or を.
Whoever did it is not the issue.
Do you know whoever is coming?
A formal and emphatic way to say 'whoever it may be'. Often used in written or rhetorical contexts.
誰でも (daredemo) means 'anyone' or 'whoever' in a general sense, while 誰か (dareka) means 'someone' and refers to a specific but unknown person. Use 誰でも for universal statements and 誰か for particular instances.
Anyone can do it.
Someone did it.
English 'whoever' often translates to different structures in Japanese depending on context. Directly translating 'whoever' as a single word is not possible. Pay attention to whether you mean 'any person who' or 'the unknown person who'.
Whoever comes is welcome.
Whoever it is, they must follow the rules.
Whoever says what, I won't believe it.
Whoever it may be, the truth should be revealed.