78431
In そうなんですか (sounandesuka) the なん (nan) is used to explain something, give
reasoning, or to emphasize something but in これはなんですか (korewanandesuka) the なん
is treat as "what", how to know when to use, is it all depends on context?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-05T06:57:05.283
78430
2020-07-05T15:48:03.010
39534
question
hiragana
The difference between 何/なに (nani) and なん (nan)?
Simply, see what comes before なん. If the word before な is something that can
take だ/です (a noun, a na-/no-adjective, そう, よう, いつ/だれ/どこ/etc), it means this な
is a form of だ and ん is an explanatory-no. See the usage pattern of
explanatory-no [here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/5399/5010).

  * 学生なんですか。 So you're a student?
  * 簡単なんですか。 So it's easy?
  * だれなんですか？ Who is it?

If なん is preceded by は or nothing, なん is "what".

  * これはなんですか。 What is this?
  * なんですか。 What (is it)?

**EDIT:** As broccoli said, は is commonly omitted in casual speech, which
makes a sentence like それなんですか technically ambiguous.

> それなんですか。
>
>   * So it's _that_ one (that we are talking about)!
>   * What is that?
>

But a comma is usually inserted after それ if the latter meaning is intended.
Even if there is no comma, you can easily tell the intended meaning from the
context.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-05T07:35:57.647
78431
2020-07-05T15:48:03.010
2020-07-05T15:48:03.010
5010
5010
78430
answer