Hello! This is Malia from the SALC. Last week, we learned how to use ‘let’s’ in English. Today, let’s check the third grammar point in our list: ‘how’ vs. ‘what’.
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4. How vs. What
“How does it look like?” “How do you think?”
Have you ever said something like this? The problem is incorrect translation from the Japanese word ‘どう’. Let’s look at two problems with ‘how’ vs. ‘what’.
Problem #1: Verb mismatch
One problem is when the question word and verb don’t match. This is a simple grammar error. Let’s check the most common mistake:
What does it look? ✕
→ 非文法的、「～を見る」＝look at
How does it look? 〇
→ （見た目は）どうですか、直訳：どのように見えますか
How does it look like? ✕
→ look like＝「～に見える」、「どう」が使えない（どうに見えますか✕）
What does it look like? 〇
→ 何に見えますか/どのようなものですか
Problem #2: Nuance
Sometimes, both ‘how’ and ‘what’ are grammatically correct but cause problems with the meaning of the sentence. ‘How’ is used in two main ways English:
1. 手順、方法（どうやって）
→ How can I get to the station? 直訳：どうやって駅に着けられますか？ 意訳：駅までどうやって行けますか？
2. あいまいなやり方（どういう風に）、あり方（どのような）
→ How do you feel? 直訳：どういう風に感じますか？ 意訳：気分はどうですか？
→ How is the weather? 直訳：どのような天気ですか？ 意訳：天気はどうですか？
Here is the common mistake:
✕ How do you think?
→ あなたはどうやって考えますか？（考える方法を聞いている）
〇 What do you think?
→ あなたはどう思いますか？（直訳：あなたは何を考えますか？）
The verb ‘think’ uses ‘what’, not ‘how’. This is because the question asks for a thought, a.k.a. an idea. An idea is one countable thing (数えられるもの). The question asker wants to know what that thing is (そのものは何なのか). How do you think? = どうやって考えますか? The answer to this question might be “…with my brain…”
Adding to the sentence can make ‘how’ OK because the meaning of the question will change:
How do you think I got here? 〇
＝ 私がどうやってここに来たと思う？
If you change the verb to ‘feel’, you can use ‘how’:
・What do you feel? ＝ 何を感じますか？（特定の気持ちを聞いている）
・How do you feel? ＝ 気分はどうですか？（直訳：どういう風に感じますか？）
Like an idea, a feeling can be one countable thing. But usually, feelings are mixed or broad (おおまか). Therefore, the common question is ‘how do you feel’, not ‘what do you feel’. The full meaning of ‘気分はどう’ (i.e., ‘how do you feel’) is ‘今はどのような気分ですか’.
There are two possible uses for this question:
「How do you feel?」を使って心身の状態を伺う 短く（大まかに）回答する例：“Not too bad…” 詳しく回答する例：“I’m OK, but I was sick recently, so I’m kind of tired.” If you say ‘what’ your condition is instead of ‘how’ your condition is, you might give specific information, like a conversation with your doctor: “I had a fever for two days. The main symptoms went away after four days, but I’m still not feeling my best.”
「How do you feel?」を使って意見を聞く How do you feel? ✕ → how + feelで聞くと、意見よりも体調や感覚、大まかな気分が答えられる可能性がある What do you think? 〇 → 「意見」というものはthinkされる「thought」と同じような特定の数えられるものだから、意見を聞くときはwhat + thinkが一番自然
If you add ‘about...’ to the question, both ‘what do you think’ and ‘how do you feel’ are OK. This is because the purpose of the question is clear (i.e., その時の気分よりも、aboutの次にくるトピックについての答えが求められていることが明らかだから、how + feel + aboutを使って意見を聞くことができる). Aboutを使った質問の例：“How do you feel about the English classes at APU?” 短く（大まかに）回答する例：“They’re fine…” 詳しく回答する例：“It’s good that we study English intensively, but I don’t like the
Benchmark test.”
Asking “What do you feel?” is also OK. However, using ‘what’ makes the question about one or more specific feelings. For example, if something good happens to you, how you feel = ‘happy’, and what you feel = ‘happiness’. In both English and Japanese, ‘what do you feel / 何を感じていますか’ is a good question, but it can’t be used as widely as ‘how do you feel’.
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Have you made this common mistake in your everyday English? The next time you use the grammar point above, remember what you learned today or share your knowledge with your friends. Come back next week to check the fifth and final common mistake in this series!
SALC LA
Malia Bernard