いったい

Usage

いったい is an intensifier used with questions. It usually occurs immediately preceding the question word, but in may appear in other locations before the question word, as seen in Ex 2. "(What, who, where, how, etc.) on earth

Examples

そんなにやせてしまって、いったいどうしたの? You've lost so much weight, what in the world happened?
いったいあなたは何を考えてそんなことをしたんですか What on earth were you thinking doing such a thing?