# I want/I'd like to ask you if...



## Nino83

Hello everyone.

Yesterday, in another thread, this sentence was corrected like this:
I'd like to ask you if this sentence is idiomatic in Japanese.
私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと訊きたい*。
私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語の慣用句なの*かお聞きしたい*のです。

My doubts are the following:
1) in the dictionary (tangorin) and in my book (Yoko Kubota, Grammatica di Giapponese Moderno) I find the verb 聞く (to ask, to hear) but not the verb お聞きする. Why is it お聞きしたい instead of 聞きたい? Is it wrong to use 聞きたい?
2) in my book it is said that the verb 聞く takes the particles かと, for example 私は彼に伊藤さんは来る*かと*聞いた (I asked him if Itō-san would come). Is the particle と opitional?

For example, if I want to say:
I want to ask you if Itō-san went to school.
私はあなたに伊藤さん学校に行ったかと聞きたい。 or do I have to say 私はあなたに伊藤さん学校に行ったかお聞きしたい。?

A last question. Can I use 聞く + たい for both "I want to" and "I'd like to" or for the second one I've to use 好きだ?
For example:
I'd like to ask you if Itō-san went to school.
私はあなたに伊藤さん学校に行ったかと聞くのが好きだ。

Thank you


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## wind-sky-wind

You can't say "聞きする," but "お聞きする" is a very common expression.

お聞きする or お尋ねする is a "humble" version of "聞く" or "尋ねる."


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## Nino83

Thank you, wind-sky-wind. 
I've read, now, in a site that the humble form is formed by お + stem (B2) + する. 
What about the omission of the particle と in かと聞いた. 
My book gives _ka shiranai_ for _I don't know if_ but _ka *to* kiku/tazuneru_ for _I ask (someone) if_.


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## kamot

〜かと聞きたい is grammatically correct.
But if you ask someone a question, it is better to say 〜かお聞きしたい(の)です as it is politer.
This is a matter of politeness rather than grammar.

In my understanding, "I would like to" is politer than "I want to". So "I would like to ask" is closer to "〜お聞きしたいです" than "〜聞きたい".


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## Nino83

kamot said:


> This is a matter of politeness rather than grammar.
> "I would like to" is politer than "I want to". So "I would like to ask" is closer to "〜お聞きしたいです" than "〜聞きたい".


Ah, ok, got it. Thank you very much!


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## kamot

Nino83 said:


> What about the omission of the particle と in かと聞いた.
> My book gives _ka shiranai_ for _I don't know if_ but _ka *to* kiku/tazuneru_ for _I ask (someone) if_.



You can omit と.
But it doesn't seem to matter with politeness whether you omit と or not.


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## frequency

Nino83 said:


> I'd like to ask you if Itō-san went to school.
> 私はあなたに伊藤さん学校に行ったかと聞くのが好きだ。



Nino, I'm very sorry for my nitpicking. I've just found it by chance, so don't blame me.
You say _I like asking... _And in speech we often can omit は/が but if you say more formally..


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## Nino83

kamot said:


> You can omit と.
> But it doesn't seem to matter with politeness whether you omit と or not.


Thank you. 


frequency said:


> You say _I like asking..._


Thank you. 

So, summarizing:
〜聞きたい = I want to ask you
〜お聞きしたいです = I'd like to ask you (more polite, like the conditional of politeness in English)
〜聞くのが好きだ = I like asking (asking is something that is pleasant to me, not good in this context)

Thank you all!


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## karlalou

Nino83 said:


> 〜聞きたい = I want to ask you


If you say ～（か（と） etc.）聞きたい to someone, it sounds very demanding or unusually enthusiastic and, again, demanding. 

We soften it by adding some ending particles when we casually ask a close friend something, ex. ～のか聞きたいんだけど. Or also you can say ～のか聞きたいのですが, and this sounds fairly polite.


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## Nino83

Thank you, karlalou. 


karlalou said:


> ～のか聞きたいんだけど


What does けど mean at the end of the sentence?  
here and in this page it is "althoug, but, however". Has it a different meaning in this case?  

In the second page (wiktionary) there is an example (_itai kedo kimochi ii_). I'm wondering where they picked up this sentence...lol


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## karlalou

Nino83 said:


> karlalou said:
> 
> 
> 
> ～のか聞きたいんだけど
> 
> 
> 
> What does けど mean at the end of the sentence?
> here and in this page it is "althoug, but, however". Has it a different meaning in this case?
Click to expand...

That けど is nothing more than "although, but, however", but is used here just for the purpose of softening the words. Maybe it can be said that it continues with something such as いいですか？ meaning "Do you mind?".

～のか聞きたいんだけど（、いいですか？）


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## Nino83

karlalou said:


> ～のか聞きたいんだけど（、いいですか？）


Great! Thanks


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## frequency

Nino83 said:


> ～のか聞きたいんだけど


Guess how you talk using this one, as you did in your first OP.
How would you end or continue your sentence using it?

私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいんだけど。*
This sounds rude.

私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいんだけど、*
You need to continue your statement after this punctuation ten （、）.

私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいんだけど*
My doubts are the following:
1) in the dictionary (tangorin).......

Without punctuation? This is informally possible, but it'd need it and somebody would tell you to add punctuation.

私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいです。*Or
私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいんだけど、いいですか？*is fine.


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## Nino83

frequency said:


> 私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいです。*Or
> 私はあなた達にこの文章が日本語で慣用句です*かと聞きたいんだけど、いいですか？*is fine.


Thank you, frequency! 
I feel a bit strange to end a sentence with a conjunction, it's like suspending a statement (like if one wants to say or to imply something).


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## frequency

Nino83 said:


> it's like suspending a statement (like if one wants to say or to imply something).


Great, yes.
_In conversation_, you're now going to talk to your workmate face to face.
昨日の会議のこと、聞きたいんだけど・・

We usually say いいですか？or 時間ある？after that. This is almost our "template" or something on our manual. We know that enough, lol, so we often omit either and stop the speech like this way. Therefore, as you said it's like suspending a statement.
When I have to talk to my workmate who has come from other country, I'd say the full sentence.


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## Nino83

frequency said:


> When I have to talk to my workmate who has come from other country, I'd say the full sentence.


Ah, ok, now it's clear. 
Thanks


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