I'm researching the word 意味 (meaning/translation) and how to ask "What do you
mean?". It's translated as 「どういう意味？」and not 「どう意味？」. Why is it the former and
not the latter? Would the latter still be okay with a difference in
nuance/meaning?
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2023-03-06T21:53:58.923
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2023-03-14T10:01:32.183
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question
word-choice
What is the difference between どう and どういう? (e.g. どういう意味)
[どう](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86/#jn-154925) is an
adverb and
[どういう](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E3%81%84%E3%81%86/#jn-154977)
is a 連体詞 which can come before a noun. Thus どう意味 is just ungrammatical.

For _what do you mean_ , you may be able to use どういうこと? as well.
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2023-03-06T23:33:13.753
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2023-03-06T23:33:13.753
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A very literal (but very unidiomatic) translation of "what do you mean" might
be 意味は何ですか. The idiom どういう意味, literally, is something more like "how is the
meaning expressed?" (Or, respecting the difference in how Japanese grammar
works, maybe a gloss along the lines of "meaning which-is-expressed how?") どう
asks "how" (in the usual fill-in-the-blank style); as such, it modifies a
verb, not a noun. いう here is 言う (but it would only be written in kana in this
context). The combination どういう is common enough to be analyzed as a single
unit. Of course, this verb clause can then modify a noun attributively, the
same way that i-adjectives work (they're both predicates).
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2023-03-07T02:08:56.883
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2023-03-07T02:08:56.883
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answer