"What is the condition of the patient?"

Translation: Jaki jest stan pacjenta?

[frandogk3]

Why jaki instead of jak here?

[immery]

jak is a question of adverb, jaki is a question for adjective. you are asked to describe "condition" - so a question is jaki?

[frandogk3]

Thank you again. Sure would be nice if DL had some of this explanation.

[pdamerval]

Having had this sentence immediately after "jak twoje zdrowie" i wrote "jak stan tego pacjenta" and was marked wrong, I think I am missing something subtle here

[Jellei]

Well, "Jak twoje zdrowie?" uses "How is", not "What is"... but anyway, given the fact that it doesn't use any verb, you can safely consider it just a fixed phrase. In terms of grammar, it's actually quite odd, but this is what we say. Or even just "Jak zdrowie?".

[pdamerval]

Would "jak stan tego pacjenta" sounds wrong then?

[Jellei]

Maybe it would be acceptable in colloquial speech, but I believe that's nowhere as common as "jak zdrowie".

I'm wondering if it's not a 'mental shortcut' from "jak wygląda XYZ" = "how does XYZ look" (not necessarily visually, more like 'how is').

[QOtter]

Would it be ok to answer with "W jakim stanie jest pacjent"?

[Jellei]

Sure, added.

Also, the answer is "W Arizonie".

[JanKLinde]

If it was clear that we're talking about the United States, should the question be "W którym stanie..."?

[Jellei]

Well, I guess 50 states is a closed set, sure, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear "w jakim". "w którym" may be better, of course.