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The Phrase i dont understand grammatically is the one within brackets

ある調査の結果を見てみましょう。この調査では、日本人の大学生とアメリカら日本に来ている留学生に写真を見せて、[ それがどんな感情を表している写真か答えてもらいました ]

If i were to translate this phrase i would end up with: they answered, which pictures that represent feelings?

and somehow that doesnt make sense.

So my question is what is どんな connected to. to 写真 or to 感情. And where doese the relative clause for 写真 start and end? And wouldnt the meaning that is intended be stated by this following phrase: それがどんな感情を表しているかを答えてもらいました、so the word 写真 after 表している is not needed and the particle を should be after the question marker か。

I hope you can help me understand this point.

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Let's break this sentence down bit by bit, it'll help you see the grammatical structure of it.

The entire sentence:

それがどんな感情を表している写真か答えてもらいました
I got the answer to what kind of feeling is that picture representing.
(OR) (The other person) answered to what kind of feeling is that picture representing.

Staring from 写真 and the relative clause：

写真 picture
感情を表している representing feeling

Using the relative clause to modify the noun 写真：

感情を表している写真 picture that is representing feeling
どんな感情を表している写真か picture that is representing what kind of feeling?

Adding the rest:

それがどんな感情を表している写真か That's a picture that is representing what kind of feeling?

答えてもらいました receiving (the act of) answering, aka the other person did answer.

それがどんな感情を表している写真か答えてもらいました
I got the answer to "that's a picture that is representing what kind of feeling?"
(In more natural English) I got the answer to what kind of feeling is that picture representing.
(OR) (The other person) answered to what kind of feeling is that picture representing.

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  • Thank you for your breakdown. I somehow understand the grammatical structure. But if this sentence is literally translated as that's a picture, that is representing what kind of feeling. wouldn't the question marker か be placed before 写真. それがどんな感情を表しているか写真 or would that mess up the whole sentence because i would still have to add 答えてもらいました
    – Yusoppu
    Commented Jun 28, 2023 at 19:27
  • That would mess up the sentence. The か is needed when a question is used as a relative clause, like "どこに行くかわからない" "I don't know where to go". The か must be placed at the end of the question clause. Since the entire question is それがどんな感情を表している写真, the か must come after it. それがどんな感情を表しているか写真 would be grammatically wrong, since the relative clause どんな感情を表している, must be in 終止形 when modifying 写真. Adding か would make it unable to modify 写真.
    – dvx2718
    Commented Jun 28, 2023 at 23:44
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    Thank you. I really appreciate your help.
    – Yusoppu
    Commented Jun 29, 2023 at 8:56
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what is どんな connected to. to 写真 or to 感情. And where does the relative clause for 写真 start and end?

どんな connects to 感情 and どんな・・・表している is the relative clause modifying 写真 (Very literally: what-emotion-expressing photo).

And wouldn't the meaning that is intended be stated by this following phrase: それがどんな感情を表しているかを答えてもらいました、so the word 写真 after 表している is not needed and the particle を should be after the question marker か。

Your sentence is correct, but を is optional here. The following question is related:

So all of below are possible and mean basically the same in that context.

  1. それがどんな感情を表している写真か答えてもらいました
  2. それがどんな感情を表している写真かを答えてもらいました
  3. それがどんな感情を表しているか答えてもらいました
  4. それがどんな感情を表しているかを答えてもらいました
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  • Thank you for your answer. I am relieved that my sentence expresses the same meaning. But could you elaborate why 写真 is used even though it could have been omitted. Is it because it sounds more like what a native speaker would say?
    – Yusoppu
    Commented Jun 28, 2023 at 19:23

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