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'.
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.
お名前は?
What is your name?
すすめ
susume
[susume]
recommendation
Means recommendation or something being recommended by the restaurant.
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.
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'.
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'.
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.
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.
A席はありますか。
Are there A seats available?
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