"어머니는 눈치가 있게 물어봤어요."
Translation:The mother asked tactfully.
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Both 묻다 & 물어보다 mean "To ask".
물어보다 is adopted in common usage for practical reasons. This is to avoid confusion between 묻다 (to ask) and 물다 (to bite).
Both 묻다 & 물다 are irregular verbs and have 물어 as a verb stem. So they share many conjugated forms.
V + 아/어/여 보다 (To consider V-ing) is an auxiliary expression usually added for politeness (especially when expressing a request). It does not really change the meaning of the main verb. This is why Koreans use it in this case. As said, it is all for practical reasons.
To stress that effort has been put into making a query i.e.
To try to ask = 물으려 하다 [Lit. To try by asking]
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눈치있다 (vb) - have tact
눈치있는 (adj) - that have tact /tactful
눈치있게 (adv) - with tact / tactfully
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As far as I understand it, 눈치 is a kind of situational awareness, meaning you know how to act within a certain social context. 눈치가 없다 would then describe a person who does not have this awareness and is thus perceived as being socially awkward.