"Milyenek az írók?"
Translation:What are the writers like?
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Could "What kind of writers ?" be an acceptable translation as well ? The meanings are slightly different though... "What are they like" > "tall, kind, annoying, etc.", whereas "what kind" > "horror, scifi, etc."
"Milyenek az írók" wouldn't be answered by the preferred genre of said writers. If that's what you want to ask, you have to specify it, like: "Milyen műfajban írnak?" (műfaj = genre)
I'm still unclear as to why "How" doesn't fit here. I know I'm not asking about their health if I'm asking how are the writers in English...
In English, we don't usually use "how" to elicit a description of something. We use "what ... like".
this answer is dubious. I think the magyarul question means: what kind of writers are they?
Not quite. What kind of writers are they? would be Ők milyen írók?
The difference lies in whether milyen(ek) is a phrase on its own or part of a larger phrase. Similarly, in English, in what kind of writers, what kind of is a part of the larger noun phrase what kind of writers. To express this in Hungarian, milyen is also part of the noun phrase: milyen írók.
In what is x like in English, in contrast, what is a phrase on its own. The same is true in Hungarian, with milyenek, only that the Hungarian expression has to agree in number with whatever x stands for, thus: Milyen az író? ‘What is the writer like?’ and Milyenek az írók? ‘What are the writers like?’