っけ

っけ goes at the end of a question about something you once knew and can't quite remember: "what was it again?", "did I…?". It follows a past form – a verb's た-form, an い-adjective in かった – or だ / だった after a noun or a な-adjective.

A verb in the dictionary form can't take っけ directly. Put んだ in between.

• × 明日来るっけ → 明日来るんだっけ

With a noun or a な-adjective, だっけ and だったっけ both work, even when the fact is about now or the future: あす明日ってなんようひ何曜日だっけ.

Asking someone or asking yourself

You can ask someone else to remind you, or say it to yourself while you try to remember.

Either way, っけ says you knew this once. To ask about something you never knew, ask without it.

Register

っけ is spoken Japanese. It goes on でした or ました too, and in that form you can say it to a customer or a colleague. It doesn't belong in writing or in formal speech.

Usage notes

These go beyond asking to be reminded.

Looking back

After a past verb, often with よく, っけ can also be fond recollection rather than a question: "we used to…".