どんな
Ask “what kind of ___?”
You’ll be able to ask what kind of thing or person someone means and request more detail.
京都はどんな町ですか。
kyouto wa donna machi desu ka.
What do you think this sentence means?
What kind of city is Kyoto?
Ask what kind of person or thing
Put どんな before a noun when you want someone to describe its type or qualities.
田中さんはどんな人ですか。
tanaka-san wa donna hito desu ka.
What kind of person is Tanaka?
Put どんな before a noun
どんな must be followed by a noun. The rest of the sentence asks about that noun.
どんな車ですか。
donna kuruma desu ka.
What kind of car is it?
田中さんはどんな人ですか。
tanaka-san wa donna hito desu ka.
What kind of person is Tanaka?
どんな部屋ですか。
donna heya desu ka.
What kind of room is it?
どの vs どんな
どの picks one item out of a known set. どんな asks what sort of thing it is, with no set to choose from.
どんな, what kind
どんな本ですか。
donna hon desu ka.
What kind of book is it?
Asks for a description or genre, such as “an interesting Japanese book.”
どの, which one
どの本ですか。
dono hon desu ka.
Which book is it?
Asks you to identify a specific book among a group.
田中さんはどんな人ですか。
tanaka-san wa donna hito desu ka.
What kind of person is Tanaka?
これはどんな本ですか。
kore wa donna hon desu ka.
What kind of book is this?
日本はどんな国ですか。
nihon wa donna kuni desu ka.
What kind of country is Japan?
8 more examples in the grammar path — free for a limited time.