0

I have translated most of the following sentence on my own, but I am having great difficulty in understanding then translating the ending of どうなの.

教え子の名前ぐらい、もう少し考えたらどうなの

According to nevan king answer at What exactly is "なの" (nano)? ,

The な is only there if you use it after a noun or a na-adjective (きれい, 大変, 非常).

However, as far as I am aware, according to https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/en/どう/#je-52734 and based on the context (shown below), the どう here most likely means "the same". Whether どう is a noun or na-adjective is unknown to me; so I can't accurately use What exactly is "なの" (nano)? to help me understand its meaning.

しかし、アインにツヴァイか……。
教え子の名前ぐらい、もう少し考えたらどうなの

TDLR: What does どうなの mean in the above sentence?

3
  • どう here most likely doesn't mean 'the same'. ⇦ Fixed it for you. What other meaning could どう have? (hint: どうですか?)
    – BJCUAI
    Commented Mar 5, 2019 at 21:49
  • @BJCUAI I am a utter idiot for not remembering the connection that なの has with です and then applying it to my translation. And I remember hearing that どうですか phrase means "How is it?" or variants thereof.
    – Toyu_Frey
    Commented Mar 5, 2019 at 23:35
  • @ToyuFrey So, going by this realization, do you have a new understanding of what this means? Would you proffer a revised translation of 「もう少し考えたらどうなの?」?
    – BJCUAI
    Commented Mar 5, 2019 at 23:56

1 Answer 1

2

If you have seen 考えてはどうですか before, this 考えたらどうなの is a variation of it. たら is a condition marker, どう is "how", な is the attributive form of the copula, の is "explanatory-no" (or a seek-for-clarification marker as explained here). In general, conditional + どう/如何 + copula + question marker (literally "how is it like if you ~") forms a suggestion/advice. (な)の is optional, but it essentially makes the suggestion stronger by adding a little doubtful tone ("I wonder why you don't ~").

There are many variations, each with a different omission/formality/politeness level.

  • お考えになっては如何【いかが】でしょうか? (highly polite)
  • 考えてはどうなのですか?
  • お考えになっては? (everything after a condition marker can be omitted)
  • 考えては如何?
  • 考えたらどう?
  • 考えたらどうなん?
  • 考えたらどっすか?
  • 考えたらどうなのよ?
  • 考えたら?

Related:

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .