"이 가벼운 상자 안에 무엇이 있습니까?"
Translation:What's in this light box?
21 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
I was confused about 무엇이 vs 뭐. Turns out 무어시 is preferred for written and formal use whereas 뭐 is better for spoken use.
I'm still a bit confused. There seem to be so many different spellings of the same word and I can't tell which is the right - or preferred - one, when or why. Maybe it is just one of those things that either comes with time, practice and experience (+ patience!) or never comes at all.
Edited same day to include this:
According to Google translate, (Korean to English):
뭘, 뭐, 무엇이, 무엇, 무슨? = What, what, what, what, what?
The other way around, (English to Korean), is worse:
What = 무엇, 어떤 일, 어떤 것, 얼마, 웬, 얼마나 많은 금액, 얼마나 많은 양, 무슨, 얼마나, 어느 정도 and 본질.
444
Well yeah, the two languages don't work the same way so the dictionaries aren't that helpful here. A lot of your various examples aren't really 'what' (어떤 is closer to 'which', 얼마나 is 'how many', 무슨 is also 'which') but in some contexts you might translate it to 'what'.
And then most of the rest of your alternative examples just have particles or abbreviations. 뭐 is short for 무엇. 무엇이 is has the -이 subject marker.
It is a confusing topic sure, but don't get carried away trying to have an english word that perfectly translates each korean word. Just keep studying and looking at the whole sentence translations and try to understand why this time they used 무엇이 instead of 뭘 or vice versa bit by bit and you'll get there.
So, why is it not 속에? I always thought of 안에 as in a room or building and 속에 as inside a box or dresser or whatnot. Is there a more subtle difference?
The difference between 안 and 속 is that 안 is more physical and 속 is more abstract, used for things not so palpable.
They seem to use 속에 when talking about a forest in previous units - as an example of something less tangible.
It wasn't happy with "This light box has what inside?". I realise it is a less commonly used English interpretation, but it is still a valid sentence conveying the same as the preferred/prescribed alternative.
