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- "How is that student?"
"How is that student?"
Translation:저 학생은 어떻습니까?
11 Comments
어떻습니까 and 어때요 are higher and lower versions of the same verb. 어떻다 is unusual in the lower form because the irregularㅎ disappears, then the vowel contraction is an exception: ㅓ + ㅣ = ㅐ... usually it would be ㅔ.
2581
Where does the ㅣ come from? Surely it would be 어떠 + 어요?
Edit: still don't know the answer to this, but I noticed this happen with 렇 too, i.e. 이렇다 -> 이래요.
이렇다, 그렇다, 저렇다, and 어떻다 are ㅎ-irregular.
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/ko/polite_speech_level/tips-and-notes
Only found among descriptive verbs. 좋다 is the only regular descriptive verb whose stem ends in ㅎ. The ㅎ disappears, and final ㅏ/ㅓ + -아요/-어요 becomes ㅐ요 for all verbs found in this course. Exceptions are rare.
- 1338
Does this mean "how is" in the sense when one says, "How are you?" Or does it mean "What is that student like?" Or can the verb 어떻다 mean either/both?
The latter. I think English is the only language where "how is" means "how feels/goes".
I got this as a multiple choice question, asking for the correct translation of "How is that student?". The possible answers were "그 학생은 어때요?", "저 학생은 어떻습니까?", and "그 학생은 어떻습니까?", but only the second response was considered correct. I was under the impression that both 그 and 저 mean 'that', with a subtle difference that usually isn't made in English, meaning that all three options should be considered correct translations. I reported it (though there was no option to describe that there should be more than one correct answer).
