どうか

Functions

Sense 1 (please): used to make earnest requests or pleas. More emphatic than ください alone.

• どうか聞(き)いてください: Please listen
• どうかお願(ねが)いします: Please, I beg you

Sense 2 (whether): used with verbs to express uncertainty.

• 〜かどうか: whether or not
• 来(く)るかどうか分(わ)からない: I don't know if they'll come

Common expressions

• どうかしている: to be not oneself, to be acting strangely (どうかしてるよ, "you're not thinking straight")

Similar words

• どうぞ: please (offering/permission, less urgent than どうか)