I have noticed a recurring sentence pattern of Xのどこが好き/嫌い e.t.cですか？ meaning what do you like/hate about X. I was just wondering if anyone knows what exact function どこ is performing in this sentence. I think it means something like "What do you like in X" for example:
犬のどこが好きですか？:What do you like in [or perhaps more accurately about] dogs?
Just looking for a little bit more clarification and confirmation of my suspicion. Any help would be much appreciated.
A more literal translation of 犬のどこが好きですか would be "Which point of dogs do you like?" This is structurally similar to 日本のどこに行きたいですか ("Which area of Japan do you want to go to?" or "Where in Japan do you want to go?").
Just like 日本のどこ is "where in Japan", 犬のどこ is literally "where in dogs". This may not make much sense in English, but this is how Japanese people ask about a part, characteristics or aspect of dogs. This is natural because Japanese ところ ("place") has much broader, abstract meanings. See Meaning of ところ in アメリカのいいところ.
It simply has the same function as the what in your English sentence, no strings attached.
