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こんにちは皆さん。質問があります。

「A(動詞) や B(動詞) しますか」と聞きたいです。例えば：

Does a new couple rent an apartment or buy an apartment?

日本語で下の文は正しいですか。

新しい夫婦がアパートを借りしますや買いますか。

(オンラインで見つかりませんでした。)

Chocolate
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A. Mashreghi
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    Your English sentence is ambiguous. But at least, や is not a right choice ([here's why](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/92868/5010)). – naruto Sep 26 '22 at 01:53
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    So which is the expected answer of this question? 1) "**Yes** they do / **No** they don't"? Or 2) "They'll **buy** it / They'll **rent** it"? – naruto Sep 26 '22 at 05:24
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    @naruto Although, technically, there is some ambiguity in this question, I feel that it naturally suggests 'they rent it/ they buy it' as answers. If someone answered 'yes/no' I would assume they were trying to be humorous. I assume the Japanese sentence would be formulated differently in the two situations, which is why you asked. I have an idea for how to make the sentence in situation 2), which would not work for situation 1). I'd be interested in seeing both cases. Voting to reopen. – user3856370 Sep 26 '22 at 17:29
  • @user3856370 Yes, OP's intention is clearer now, but the [initial version](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/revisions/96363/1) looked more ambiguous at least to me. Besides, since OP seems to want to use や, I couldn't help but see it as a yes/no question... – naruto Sep 27 '22 at 02:54

1 Answers1

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You cannot use や to form a "which of the two" type question. や is a non-exhaustive listing particle, and you use it to list two or more nouns (i.e., "(things such as) A and B"). You cannot use や to list two verbs, and even if it could, "things like renting or buying an apartment" is not what you want to say now, right?

The correct translation is:

(夫婦は)アパートを借りるのですか、(それとも)買うのですか。
(Does the couple) rent an apartment, (or do they) buy it?

それとも ("or else") is optional, but I suggest you keep it if you're not confident.

Also note that the correct particle to mark this subject is not が but は.

naruto
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