What did she want from me?

2025年3月26日

A: You had a call from Jane.
B: Who’s Jane?
A: Isn’t she your brother’s girlfriend?
B: What did she want from me?

In this situation, what should you say ‘what did she want from me?’ in Japanese?

Casual

B：僕ぼくに何なにの用ようだろ

Note: This is not a word-for-word translation.

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A word-for-word translation

B：彼女かのじょは僕ぼくに何なにを求もとめていたの？

It’s grammatically correct and might be fine in another situation.
But, in this case, it’s a bit weird.

僕ぼくに何なにの用ようだろ is a natural expression when you’re wondering why she called you instead of your brother and you have no idea.

It’s not rude if you don’t say it in front of the exact person who called you.
If you need to ask her why she called you, you can say 何なんでしたか？ or just お電話でんわいただいたようですけど….

The latter avoids saying it directly and just says the fact of the call, expecting her to infer your question.