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- "여우는 어떻게 웁니까?"
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Fun fact: Foxes actually do make every single one of the sounds in that song. Even if the song became a horrible "hillarious" meme, it's actually highly educational.
This song is big in Korea. My students used to request this song. Brings back memories.
Well... it seems to be popular among the children (students)... I am not sure about the adults though.
Maybe because it is fun, funny and has a good catchy tune and dance. The kids love to dance to the YouTube dance video. I think they are addicted to it.
어떻게 means What here because of the phrasing of the sentence?
If you take the literal translation "How does the fox cry", that makes sense, but saying "What does the fox cry" is a bit dubious at best, and the same applies for "How does the fox say", so is 어떻게 > What because of the phrasing?
@Daniel - Koreans mostly use 어떻게 to signify What (in relation to verbs). E.g. 어떻게 생각해요 = What do you think? (Literally 'How do you think?') Every language/dialect has such quirks. Reminds me of an Aussie asking a non-Aussie who stood at a bus-stop "Hey mate, how are you going?" (Hi, how are you?).. The non-Aussie replied "On the bus!" :-)
I believe it was phrased this way to sound more natural than "How does the fox cry," even though that still sounds fine in English (to me at least). But we don't generally use "cry" in English as often as "say" when it comes to animal sounds, and as you said, "How does the fox say" sounds a bit odd, so if that all makes sense then that's likely why it was translated to "what does the fox say," instead. I hope that clears up any confusion? Sorry if that wasn't helpful.
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Dog goes "woof" Cat goes "meow" Bird goes "tweet" And mouse goes "squeek" Cow goes "moo" Frog goes "croak" And the elephant goes "toot" Ducks say "quack" And fish go "blub" And the seal goes "ow ow ow" But there's one sound That no one knows What does the fox say? "Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" What the fox say? "Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! Wa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow!" What the fox say? "Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho! Hatee-hatee-hatee-ho!" What the fox say? "Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Tchoff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff! Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!" What the fox say? Big blue eyes Pointy nose Chasing mice And digging holes Tiny paws Up the hill Suddenly you're standing still Your fur is red So beautiful Like an angel in disguise But if you meet A friendly horse Will you communicate by Mo-o-o-o-orse? Mo-o-o-o-orse? Mo-o-o-o-orse? How will you speak to that Ho-o-o-o-orse? Ho-o-o-o-orse? Ho-o-o-o-orse? What does the fox say? "Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow! Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow! Chacha-chacha-chacha-chow!" What the fox say? "Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow! Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow! Fraka-kaka-kaka-kaka-kow!" What the fox say? "A-hee-ahee ha-hee! A-hee-ahee ha-hee! A-hee-ahee ha-hee!" What the fox say? "A-oo-oo-oo-ooo! Woo-oo-oo-ooo!" What does the fox say? The secret of the fox Ancient mystery Somewhere deep in the woods I know you're hiding What is your sound? Will we ever know? Will always be a mystery What do you say? You're my guardian angel Hiding in the woods What is your sound? (Wa-wa-way-do, wub-wid-bid-dum-way-do, wa-wa-way-do) Will we ever know? (Bay-budabud-dum-bam) I want to (Mama-dum-day-do) I want to, I want to know! (Abay-ba-da bum-bum bay-do)
Animals "say" in English, and "cry" in Korean. However, literal translation is also accepted.
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because in English you ask "how an animal cries" or "what an animal says" it is weird if you use the wrong question word.
I think for all animals except dogs. Dogs bark, or "짖다". I guess we also sometimes say foxes bark, but not in Korean.
"cry" is an acceptable term for the vocalizations of (most) animals in English. Or just any harsh vocalization, e.g. a warcry or a cry of pain.
웁니다 is cry, but here it was translated to say, I think in English "what does the fox says" sounds more natural than "what does the fox cries"
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울다 - cry
ㄹ irregular verb. On conjugating using the formal ㅂ니다 , the ㄹ drops off (VS = 우) :
-> 우 + ㅂ니다 -> 웁니다
In interrogative forms:
웁니? - formal, low level of politeness
웁니까? - formal, high level of politeness
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Literally, yes. But a literal translation of idioms can distort the meaning of the original message.
In this case, if translated as "How does the sheep 'cry'?" the Speaker seems to be asking for the manner in which the animal bleats. This is not what the original message tries to convey.
여우는 어떻게 울어요 ? = what does the sheep cry (--> is saying / is trying to say) ?
Note:
The use of the verb 울다 (to cry) to describe the way the sheep communicates, dictates the use of 어떻게 as a "what" question because 울다 is strictly an intransitive verb and cannot take a direct object complement.
The verb "to cry" in English on the other hand can be transitive as seen in some idioms: cry a river; cry wolf; cry the blues, cry shame etc. So to some extent, "What does the sheep cry?" can be a valid translation.
What does the sheep cry? - It cries wolf.
Love to get some feedback on this last point.
what is the propositional content of this question? does it mean "what is the sound that foxes make? ?" or "what is the fox saying?"
In '여유는 어떻게 웁니까' the hints says that it mean 'how does a fox cry' but the right answer is 'Whst does the fox say?' WHY!!!
Because that's how it is in Korean.
Have you ever thought about English the same way? Singular nouns take verbs with "s". Right? "He walks", "The girl talks"...
Plural nouns take verbs without "s". Right? "They walk", "The girls talk".
Same holds true for the plural We. "We walk", "We talk". Now I is the singular of We.
So why not "I walks", "I talks"... WHY?? WHY??
Because that's the way it is in English. Learn it. Similarly the above is the way it is in Korean.
Let's learn Korean grammar the same way we learnt English grammar... by accepting how it is. :-)
@Shraddha - well spotted.
However, this is one of the peculiarities of the Korean language. They sometimes use 어떻게 when they mean "what".
For example 어떻게 생각해요 is literally "How do you think?"; but Koreans will say this when they intend to say "What do you think?"..
Hope this helps.
Hathee hathee hathee oohh hathee hathee hathee ooh....dingdingdingdingdingdidingdiding....
Should it be how instead of what? And it doesnt make sense in english the fox say. It should fox cries.
@Viviano - this is one of the peculiarities of the Korean language. They frequently use 어떻게 when they mean "what".
For example 어떻게 생각해요 is literally "How do you think?"; but Koreans will say this when they intend to say "What do you think?"..
Hope this helps.
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울다 (= to cry) when used to mean to express itself (i.e. in the case of non-humans: animals, birds etc.) is an intransitive verb. In other word, it cannot take a direct object.
So 뭐 (= 무엇) meaning 'what thing' (identifying a direct object) cannot be used in a question with 울다.
To seek information about the animal's cry, Koreans use different structures:
• 어떻게 (= how i.e. in which way can the action be construed/understood in human language)
여우는 어떻게 울어요? = In which way can the fox's cry be interpreted ?
(By inference) => what does the fox say?
• 뭐라고 (= 'what'-question used to get a quotation, direct or indirect)
여우는 뭐라고 울어요? = what cry does the fox make?
An expected answer to this question would be something like: 여우가 ‘흥흥, 킁킁, 멍멍’ 라고 울어요 = The fox cries, "hoo... hoo, grr ... grr, wow... wow" (direct quote) [ howls, growls & barks ]
IMO, the use of 어떻게 (= how) to mean "in which way can the action be construed/understood", happens frequently with stative verbs (intransitive); and also with some speech verbs (to say, to speak, to suggest, to cry, to bleat ...) & some cognitive verbs (to think, to feel, to understand...) which can be both transitive or intransitive verbs depending on the situation.
여우는 어떻게 웁니까? = How do foxes cry? I made a report. It is a mistake of the database. It affect our scores, -2 xp.
Not really. Koreans use 어떻게 even when they don't mean "How".
e.g. 어떻게 생각해요 does not mean "How do you think". It means "What do you think".
If you answered 어떻게 생각해요 with "Using my brain", Koreans will laugh at your joke..
Any other complaint?
P.S. focus on learning Korean, not on the scores.
If I didn't know this particular pop culture reference, I'd be done for. It would've sucked to lose a heart to this.
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울다 = (1) to cry; (2) to (try to) say [for very young babies or animals, as they don't talk.]
울다 is an Intransitive verb so it cannot take a direct object. This means the usual 무엇을 (= what) cannot be used (-을: direct object marker). 어떻게 (= in which manner) is used instead.
So,
What is the fox saying/trying to say? = 여우는 어떻게 웁니까?
*어떻게 is used to mean "What" for Intransitive verbs.
