I have some small questions about grammer

[KurumuHatake]

Hello , and Thanks for looking. I'm a beginner in Japanese, and would really appreciate if you could answer a few, if not all, of my questions. They all have to do, I think, with grammar.

1) "where is my ___?"

I　say,　"私「わたし」の猫「ねこ」がどこにいますか？" (Where is my cat?)
But is this proper? Should が　come after に?

2) "My cat is on top of the tree" or "There is a cat on top of the tree"

I say, "木「き」のうえに私の猫がいます。" (My Cat is on top of tree)
or I say, "木のうえに猫がいます。"　（There is a cat on top of the tree)
Is there anything wrong with either of the two sentences?

3) can　何「なん　or　なに」 be used by it's self. You know, just as "What?" or do I have to add か at the end?
I thought I heard it one time when I was watching an anime with English subtitles. I've been curious ever since.

4) when referring to my eye should I use います or　あります?

どおもありがとう。

[MMM]

1) が never comes right after に.

2) I think they both are fine. I would probably say

私の猫が木の上にいます。

3) Yes, なに can be used by itself, but it is quite direct and literally means "What?" as in "What did you just say?"

何か means "something" (just as どこか means "somewhere", etc.)

何か by itself would only be used to say "[Is there a problem with] something?" and should probably be avoided.

In polite speech, say 何ですか.

[phoenixheart]

I know someone already answered, but the more the better, right?

Essentially:

1. Word order doesn't matter here. Just a preference thing, in my experience.

2. Depends on which one you want to emphasize, where your cat is or fact that there's a tree with a cat in it.

3. 何 can be used by itself. The ways I've heard it--in anime and in real life--are:

何が? [what is it? (subject)]

何ですか？ [what is it? (nominative)]

何（なに）？[what?]

It can only be in a question sentence, because simply the fact that the word "what" appears in the sentence makes the sentence a question. This is true in all languages.

4. Referring to your eye would be あります。
私は目が二つあります。 (I have two eyes).

Hope this helps!

[KurumuHatake]

Thank You Both for your Kindness, and your answers. They both helped a lot.

[masaegu]

Originally Posted by KurumuHatake

I　say,　"私「わたし」の猫「ねこ」がどこにいますか？" (Where is my cat?)
But is this proper? Should が　come after に?

I am surprised that no one has corrected this yet, but you NEVER use 「が」in asking "Where is ~~?". Do use「は」.

3) can　何「なん　or　なに」 be used by it's self. You know, just as "What?" or do I have to add か at the end?
I thought I heard it one time when I was watching an anime with English subtitles. I've been curious ever since.

When used by itself, the pronunciation is always 「なに」.

「なにか？」 means "Do you want to say something?", "Is something wrong?", etc.

どおもありがとう。

The word is written 「どうも」 even though it is pronounced like 「どおも」.

[KurumuHatake]

@Masaegu Thank you vary much.

I am surprised that no one has corrected this yet, but you NEVER use 「が」in asking "Where is ~~?". Do use「は」.

It's good you told me this, so I don't sound funny speaking to someone someday.

The word is written 「どうも」 even though it is pronounced like 「どおも」.

oops. Thank you vary much. I'll remember that.