LEARN KOREAN (한국어) [GRAMMAR] #1

WHICH (어떤/어느)

어떤
어떤 is another one of these words that, although not an adjective, we can place before a noun to describe it. For example:

그 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Do you want to see that movie?
무서운 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Do you want to see a scary movie?
무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? - What movie do you want to see?
어떤 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Which movie do you want to see?

Or

그 차를 사고 싶어요? - Do you want to buy that car?
비싼 차를 사고 싶어요? - Do you want to buy an expensive car?
무슨 차를 사고 싶어요? - What car do you want to buy?
어떤 차를 사고 싶어요? - Which car do you want to buy?

The first question every learner has when learning about 어떤 is how it can be differentiated from 무슨. 어떤 usually translates to "which" and 무슨 usually translates to "what." Their meanings are very similar and their respective English translations don't really give any hints as to what the differences between the two are.

The difference is subtle, and at this point you don't really need to fully understand how they are different. The difference is even hard for Korean people to understand, and using one of them in place of the other usually creates a sentence with essentially the exact same meaning. That being said, let me give you a brief introduction of how they are different.

In the case of asking questions, 어떤 is used for two main reasons.

•To choose from a selection of options
For example, in: "어떤 차를 사고 싶어요?" Maybe you are selling cars and giving a person a selection of cars to choose from. Here, although you technically don't know the answer to the question, you can assume that it will be from a limited number of choices given.
•To ask about the type of properties or characteristics related to a person/object
For example, in: "어떤 차를 사고 싶어요?" Maybe you are asking your friend about the type of car he wants to buy based on the characteristics of it. Here, you could be asking if he wants to buy a van, an SUV, a truck, etc...

By looking at those two main usages, you can see how 어떤 should not be used to replace 무슨 in most situations. For example, in the examples with 무슨, I showed you this sentence:

무슨 냄새야? - What is that smell?

Here, "무슨 냄새야?" would be used when the person doesn't know the source of the smell, and has no idea what the smell could be. Like I said earlier, the answer to the question would likely indicate the source of the smell and could literally be anything from "farts" to "the toaster."

However saying "어떤 냄새야?" in most situations would be ridiculous. It could only really be used if you are asking a person to tell you about the characteristics of a smell they are smelling. For example, imagine if you had a bouquet of flowers and put the flowers to your friend's nose. In this case, you want your friend to describe the characteristics of the smell – "Is it a nice smell? A fresh smell? A rosy smell?" The answer to this question would likely be describing (the characteristics) of the smell.

Despite this distinction, there are many situations where 어떤 and 무슨 could basically be used interchangeably. For example, ask a Korean person if they can describe the differences between the two sentences:

무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? - What movie do you want to see?
(In theory, the speaker would have no idea what the answer to the question would be)

어떤 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Which movie do you want to see?
(In theory, the speaker would have given the listener a choice to choose from, or would be asking about the type of movie the listener wants to see [for example, a comedy, a horror movie, or a love story]).

Another usage of 어떤 that is completely unrelated to asking questions can be seen in this sentence:

어떤 남자는 어제 여기에 왔어 - Some man came here yesterday

Here, 어떤 is used to show that the speaker knew a man came, but is unsure of specifically who he was. This can be applied to other nouns as well when the speaker is aware of some object, but is unsure of what specific object is in question. For example

저는 어떤 책을 읽고 있었어요 - I was reading some book
(the speaker doesn't know exactly what book he was reading)

저는 어떤 건물에 들어갔어요 - I went into some building
(the speaker doesn't know exactly what building he went into)

Just when you thought you might actually be understanding this confusion, we have to look at another word with a similar meaning.

어느
Another way you can ask this type of question is with the word 어느. Like 무슨 and 어떤, 어느 is placed immediately before nouns.

Unfortunately for your brain, 어느 translates to "which." For example:

그 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Do you want to see that movie?
무서운 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Do you want to see a scary movie?
무슨 영화를 보고 싶어요? - What movie do you want to see?
어떤 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Which movie do you want to see?
어느 영화를 보고 싶어요? - Which movie do you want to see?

In the case of asking questions, 어느 is used in a similar way to the first explanation I gave of 어떤 from above. That is, "to choose from a selection of options." It would not be used to refer to the type of characteristics or properties of an object, and it would not be used to refer to something unknown.

Here, you can see that the usages of 무슨, 어떤 and 어느 overlap on multiple levels. Although this overlap leads to confusion, it also allows each word to be used interchangeably in most cases, which makes using them easier than you think. In my opinion, it is just as important to realize how not to use each of these words when asking a question. Let me brief that for you:

무슨:
Don't use this when asking about the type of characteristics or properties of something
Don't use this when giving somebody options to choose from

However,
Do use this when you can't expect what the answer will be at all

어떤:
Don't use this when asking about something that you can't expect the answer for

However,
Do use this when asking about the type of characteristics or properties of something
Do use this when giving somebody options to choose from

어느:
Don't use this when asking about the type of characteristics or properties of something
Don't use this when asking about something that you can't expect the answer for

However,
Do use this when giving somebody options to choose from

Here are a bunch of similar examples which each word being used:

무슨 집에서 살아요? - What house do you live in?
어떤 집에서 살아요? - Which house do you live in?
어느 집에서 살아요? - Which house do you live in?

무슨 대학교를 다녀요? - What university do you go to?
어떤 대학교를 다녀요? - Which university do you go to?
어느 대학교를 다녀요? - Which university do you go to?

무슨 쪽으로 가고 싶어요? – This would generally not be said in Korean. You would most likely say this when standing on a street (or somewhere similar), where you have a selection of options to choose from. Therefore, one of the following would be used instead:
어떤 쪽으로 가고 싶어요? - Which way do you want to go?
어느 쪽으로 가고 싶어요? - Which way do you want to go?

무슨 치마를 샀어요? - What skirt did you buy?
어떤 치마를 샀어요? - Which skirt did you buy?
어느 치마를 샀어요? - Which skirt did you buy?

This is a good start, but there are other specific situations when you might use one of these words. For example, 어느 has other usages as well. You will learn about some of the other usages of 어느 later.

In addition, as 어떤 and 어느 are used when options are given, we will continue to talk about these words later when you learn how to give options to people.