"What movie is this?"
Translation:이것은 무슨 영화입니까?
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Questions in Korean (and in many other languages) are often structured the same way as the answer is. The answer here would be 이것은 (movie name)입니다. So the question is then structured 이것은 무슨 영화입니까? where the name of the movie is replaced with 무슨 영화 and the verb ends with -까 instead of -다 since this is a question.
If 무슨 was at the beginning of the sentence instead, would it mean "What is this movie"?
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Is there a reason why 무슨 specifically is used rather than the other 'what/which' words (무엇, 어느, 어떤) ? Would this sentence make sense if one of those were used instead of 무슨?
I know 어떤 is "what kind", so I think that would change the meaning slightly. This 무슨 is the type of "what" that we use in English when it means what/which and comes before a noun. You're trying to figure out the unknown movie, not what kind/genre of movie it is (which you might ask even if you know the title).
It's because "what" in this case is a determiner for the noun phrase "what movie" rather than a noun like in the question "what is this?".
What movie is this? -> 무슨 영화입니까?
What is this? -> 무엇입니까? or simply 뭐에요?
See the comment here for more info on the different what's: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/24448032
https://studywithbee.com/2017/05/20/whats-the-difference-%EC%96%B4%EB%8A%90-%EC%96%B4%EB%96%A4-and-%EB%AC%B4%EC%8A%A8/ is a pretty good post explaining the differences between the 3 "what" words--무슨, 어느, 어떤
This what movie is? Man, suddenly things got darn near impossible to figure out...
While the "is this" is needed in English, I feel like "무슨 영화입니까?" Should also be accepted here, since it would be a weird sentence to use out of context, and in context you don't need the "이것은".
It would be like saying "What this?" in English without the 's or the verb "is." "What's this?" in Korean starts with "this." That's just the way the SOV language works.
무슨 영화입니까? would be a possible sentence, but would be used in a different situation, such as when overhearing a discussion about a movie and wondering what movie was being discussed.
I know both are accepted, but is there a difference in meaning between "무슨 영화는 이것입니까?" and "이것은 무슨 영화입니까?"
I think English translation was wrong in this sentence, must be "What is this movie?", and korean sentence, I guess right.
The English sentence is what is given to translate. It hasn't been translated, so it is a little strange to think the "translation" is wrong. If you are questioning whether the English sentence would normally be used, think of coming in on someone watching a movie on television that had already started and wanting to know the title of the movie.
Is there any way to lessen this? I mean in more of a polite way than being formal.
