どちら

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: どちら asks for a direction or a side to choose and combines with a particle or ですか.
• Basic usage: It politely asks for a direction or asks which of two alternatives applies.
  • 駅はどちらですか。 asks for the station's direction, while この二つなら、どちらが好きですか。 asks for a preference between two items.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Scope of a location question
  • For asking a location, どちらですか can be more polite than どこですか. This use does not require two places to be presented in view.
• Two alternatives or several
  • The basic choice is どちら for one of two alternatives and どれ for one of several objects. Conversational どっち is also used, with a more casual tone.