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One day, I asked my japanese friend how I could invite some friends to eat. He said
"一緒に食べに行くかい？"

I know that we could also say:

行きましょうか（行こうか）？
行きませんか（行かない）？
行きますか（行くの）？

but I got interested in why he used "kai".
I'd like to know others situations that japanese people use "kai"

Mechanical snail
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daniel tomio
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    As others have said, it's a typical familiar inflection. Importantly, it is a typical *male* inflection... – Dave Aug 26 '11 at 07:16

3 Answers3

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As opposed to 「か」, which is open-ended and can have any sort of answer, 「かい」 is expected to have an answer in the affirmative or negative only, that is, yes or no, with subsequent explanation optional.

Example:

　誰か来たのか
　誰か来たのかい

　誰が来たのか
× 誰が来たのかい

Community
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Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
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  • could you give me an example? I still can't differenciate "kai" than "ka". yoroshiku – daniel tomio Aug 26 '11 at 02:49
  • 「後で八百屋に行きますかい？」 when the listener is preparing for a shopping trip. The listener is clearly stepping out, but will they also be going to the supermarket? – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Aug 26 '11 at 02:53
  • the traslation of this sentence could be "are you going to the market later?". In this situation could I use "行きますか。"? – daniel tomio Aug 26 '11 at 03:06
  • Yes, you could. Or you could use 「かい」, if you want to restrict the answer to a firm yes or no, instead of "well, I'm meeting a friend along the way, so we'll see when the time comes". – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Aug 26 '11 at 03:09
  • hm, naruhodo. thnks – daniel tomio Aug 26 '11 at 03:15
  • Good point. Interesting. It seems to have been too difficult to whomever downvoted. –  Aug 26 '11 at 04:05
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    Can't you say things like 何色が良いかい, or is this a nonstandard development? – Matt Aug 26 '11 at 04:32
  • You could, but 「かい」 would be something like 「解」 instead in that case. 「何」 requires an open-ended answer, so using 「かい」 as the question particle would be inappropriate. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams Aug 26 '11 at 04:36
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    That's my point, though... You can find examples of this sentence online, and they definitely don't mean "解". (Whereas, indeed, 誰が来たのかい" is very rare.) So the question is, are these usages nonstandard, or is the difference subtler than "yes/no vs open-ended"? – Matt Aug 26 '11 at 04:43
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    @Ignacio: It's not 解. The い is a suffix which is probably derived from よ or や, at least according to [Daijisen](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/9100/m1u/%E3%81%84/]). – Zhen Lin Aug 26 '11 at 04:50
  • I want to know usage of かい。Now I see that 辞書+かい　and 動詞 +の+かい(I think question form for speaking)??Please answer me if ok? – ZarNge Aug 26 '11 at 06:54
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    can I say "一緒に行かないかい？" – daniel tomio Aug 27 '11 at 18:29
  • @danieltomio 行かないかい？ is okay too, but I think 行かない? would sound more natural. –  May 25 '14 at 13:14
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かい is used to soften the rudeness of か in informal speech. Sentences like "見たか？" or "好きか？" are harsh to the ear, and using かい instead of か is thus nicer to the listener.

Axioplase
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    for an invitation, within friends among japanese people, is it normal to say かい like "行くかい" (or maybe "行けるかい")? – daniel tomio Aug 28 '11 at 03:44
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    I mean, is it more common than 「行かない？行こうか？、、、」? – daniel tomio Aug 31 '11 at 21:24
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    @Axioplase However since this is a "male-usage", how do female speakers soften the か ? – Pacerier Mar 26 '12 at 03:23
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    @Pacerier I think female speakers say 一緒に食べに行く? or 一緒に食べに行かない? –  May 25 '14 at 08:02
  • @danieltomio (行く)かい? / (行ける)かい? is less common than (行か)ない? / (行こ)うか? / (行こ)う(よ) etc. at least among young people. –  May 25 '14 at 13:13
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I'm not so sure about the folksiness, but it's definitely very informal. I've mainly heard it used in speaking to children and intimates. I don't think it would be used toward social superiors in most situations. By the way, there's an analogous variant of the copula, だい, as in 「ママのおにぎりはどうだい？」.

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  • Is there any situation I could use だい, as a foreigner speaker? would it sound weird if I say it? – daniel tomio Aug 26 '11 at 03:32
  • @daniel tomio: yes "どうだい?" is very ok. You can use it all the time you let your friends taste that cake you made, or when you decide what time to meet at (9時は、どうだい？) – Axioplase Aug 26 '11 at 03:48