So my genki 1 textbook has an exercise which says, “shusshin wa doko desu ka.” Shouldn’t it be, “shusshin wa nan desu ka.” instead?
Doko means which, and koko, soko, doko refers to places. I thought that these words were meant to be used when referring for directions. Can koko, soko, and doko be used in a broader sense to refer to all places?
4 comments
Doko means where. “Where were you born?”
Doko means where.
Shusshin wa doko desuka means Where are you from?
For directions you use kochira, sochira, achira, dochira
(But confusingly, you can use these instead of koko/soko/asoko/doko and it makes it softer/more formal)
and yes, doko means where, not which. Dochira can mean “which” in some contexts.
anyway your sentence ‘shusshin wa doko desu ka’ can be translated ‘where is your hometown?’. however, ‘shusshin wa nan desu ka’ might be interpreted as ‘what is a hometown?’
Nan is what, doko is where.
What are you from? -> Sounds weird, a bit like “What is a hometown?”
Where are you from? ->