"マリアはどの国のしゅっしんですか？"
Translation:Which country is Maria from?
13 Comments
I think that still needs another 'from': "From which country is Maria from?"
I interpreted it as a question, "Maria, what country do you come from?" Which should also be correct depending on the context.
207
Not necessarily. Honorifics are often dropped between friends, family, and if a foreigner has made it clear they prefer being addressed without it (me～!) However, it is a little incongruous with the sentence using です, though scenarios exist where the honorific is not strictly necessary.
Strictly speaking, it should be: "Which country was Maria born in?"
Almost everyone I've met asks 「どの国から来ましたか？」. And when I reply with one of イギリス, 英国, or 北アイランド, they would then typically go:「ご出身は？」。
In this context, the correct translation is: "Yes, but where are you really from?"
Exactly. Usually I hear, 「どの国から来ましたか？」Then if hometown (出身) is mentioned, they want to know which city in your country. This one confused me a bit because I thought it was asking about Maria's hometown. I got native confirmation that some people use this phrase to ask which country someone is from.
- 761
That's interesting, I've had the opposite experience where everyone always asks me どこの出身 (doko no shusshin), but I had only ever learned から来ました (kara kimashita) at school and it took me forever to learn and understand the word 出身 (shusshin).
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出身is not only used for the country of your origin. It can be used for the school you attended. E.g. 東京大学出身です。
- 10
Why is there the particle 「の」between 「国」and 「出身」? I know in a response you wouldn't use a 「の」(For example: マリアさんはロシア出身です。）as tought in the first lesson, so why use it here?
