Ah that's a more understandable explanation for me I think. And
it's okay if they drop the desu ka entirely also? The entire sentance
on the page is "usagisan (Mr. Rabbit?) mogu mogu mogu (to pick). Nani
tabeteruno?" So the anata wa and desu ka are generally more formal
speech?
> Think this way. The structure "Nani -teiru no" means "What are you
> > ing?". I'll show you some examples.
> >
> > -Nani tabeteiru no? (What are you eating?)
> > -Nani shiteiru no? (What are you doing?)
> > -Nani miteiru no? (What are you watching/looking at?)
> >
> > This kind of sentence is colloquial and informal. Japanese
textbooks
> > usually give sentences like:
> >
> > -Anata wa nani o tabeteiru no desu ka.
> > -Anata wa nani o shiteiru no desu ka.
> > -Anata wa nani o miteiru no desu ka.
> >
> > These are grammatical and formal as well as polite, but not really
> > natural. I mean they don't use the word "anata" in formal speech,
> > and they almost never say this way. (If you drop "anata wa", then
> > it's perfectly all right.)
> > So, keep on reading books for Japanese children, and you'll be
> > familiar with natural Japanese.
> >
> > Kamui
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