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How to Say ‘What do you recommend?’ in Japanese

おすすめは何ですか?

o susume wa nan desu ka

[o susume wah nan dess kah]

🇯🇵 In Japan: Asking this is welcome, and staff will often point to a house specialty or a seasonal dish.

Phrase Breakdown

おすすめは

o susume wa

as for your recommendation

おすすめ (osusume) means 'recommendation'. The 'u' sounds are light, and は is read 'wa'.

Example

おすすめはこれです。

This is my recommendation.

Words in this phrase

お

o

[o]

polite prefix

Prefix added for politeness.

Example

お名前は?

What is your name?

すすめ

susume

[susume]

recommendation

Means recommendation or something being recommended by the restaurant.

Example

本日のおすすめは何ですか。

What is today's recommendation?

は

wa

[wah]

topic marker

は marks the topic of the sentence.

Example

空席はありますか。

Are there any seats available?

何ですか?

nan desu ka

what is it?

何 is read 'nan' before です. Say it as 'nan desu ka'.

Example

これは何ですか?

What is this?

Words in this phrase

何

nan

[nan]

what

何 means what; in 何時 it helps ask 'what time'.

Example

何時に始まりますか。

What time does it start?

です

desu

[dess]

is; polite copula

A polite sentence ending used in formal conversation.

Example

少し伺いたいです。

I would like to ask a little.

か

ka

[kah]

question marker

Placed at the end of a sentence to make it a question.

Example

A席はありますか。

Are there A seats available?

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