Questions with ~か or without: how to choose?


Studying Japanese on my own, I've learned that in order to make a question,
you usually add the particle "~か", like this:

> 今何時ですか。

It's also true that a question can be asked without it, using the rising tone
of voice.

But then I found out that in certain contexts, the use of "~か" can be seen as
sarcastic. My questions are:

  1. Is this actually true?
  2. And how do we decide when to choose which alternative?

Reference sites are appreciated.




You may want to look
[here](http://jaerik.tatersalad.org/japanese/Particles/particlesexplained.html)
and [here](http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar/question).

Outside of polite language, か should be used with care. Generally, it has a
very masculine and rough sounding atmosphere. Generally, in informal language,
it only used when being very direct or sarcastic.

Here's a good example taken from the second link:

そんなのは、あるかよ！(Do you think (I) would have that kind of thing!?)

Either way, it doesn't have a really "happy" tone to it.

Hope I helped :)




If you drop か, your rising intonation will indicate a question.

  * 今何時ですか。- canonical polite form
  * 今何時です- slightly less formal, feminine form.
  * 今何時- casual
  * 今何時だ- demanding and rude. Doesn't require rising intonation. Just watch something with gangsters and you'll hear it :)

