# Who teaches you Japanese?



## Thething912

How do you say, who teaches you Japanese in Romaji?

Also, I would like a Japanese friend to help me learn Japanese. Arigato.


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## Aoyama

I am not quite sure I understand the question, but if it is 


> who teaches you Japanese in Romaji?


 to be translated in Japanese, then it would be :
Dare ga, romaji de (anata ni) nihongo wo oshietemasuka ?
But you may want to ask another question ...


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## Thething912

Sorry. I wanted to know how to say who teaches you Japanese? In the Japanese format of Romaji.


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## kyn

- Dono kata wa nihongo wo oshiete kuremasuka? (Who teaches you Japanese)
- Dono kata ni nihongo wo oshiete moraimasuka? (Who do you learn Japanese from)
For a less formal version, change "dono kata" to "dare" and "kuremasuka/moraimasuka" to "kureru (n da)/morau (n da)"


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## Thething912

Okay, arigato.


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## Flaminius

Minor correction to otherwise perfect answers by *kyn*.



kyn said:


> - Dono kata *ga* nihongo wo oshiete kuremasuka? (Who teaches you Japanese)


When the subject is a question word, the preferred postposition is _-ga_.  If you put there _-wa_, it comes across awkward (and maybe ungrammatical but I don't have much material to say for sure).


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## Sinbadx81

I believe you can also say:

_Nihongo wa dare ni osowatte-iru no desu ka? _

But perhaps this is closer to the passive voice in meaning?


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## Dai_Yan

*"who's teaching you Japanese?"*

Kimi ni  wa dare ga Nihongo wo oshieteiru ka?

*" who teaches you Japanese?"*

kimi ni wa dare ga nihongo wo oshiete imasu ka?

(I think this is a simple way to say it... though is informal.)


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## Flaminius

The difference between _oshieteiru_ and _oshiete imasu_ is not that the former is the progressive and the latter is the present.  The difference is that the latter is more polite or formal, which is expressed by _masu_.


> Kimi ni  wa dare ga Nihongo wo oshieteiru ka?
> kimi ni wa dare ga nihongo wo oshiete imasu ka?


Note that both of the sentences may be translated into the English progressive by virtue of conjugations of _iru_ (_iru_ and _i_; as underlined).

If I am to provide a rewrite in informal register;
Dare-ga kimi-ni Nihongo-o oshieteiru-no?

However, I would usually say after *Sinbadx81*,
Nihongo wa dare ni osowatte-iru no [desu ka]?

The part I enclosed in brackets can be omitted to make an informal utterance.


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## s_a_n_t_i

> _Nihongo wa dare ni osowatte-iru no desu ka? _
> 
> But perhaps this is closer to the passive voice in meaning?



Yes, it's closer, but it's not a passive-form made verb _per se_.
What I want to say is that 教わる is not the passive voice form (although it could be, and its use is OK) of 教える. The passive voice is 教えられる.
I prefer though, using 教わる instead of 教えられる.


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