> 「僕達はあなたがどれほど頑張っている **か** 心配です」

I know that 「か」in the middle of a sentence can be used for embedded questions
or as "or," but I don't see any of that here.
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2019-05-15T02:40:52.547
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2019-05-15T05:36:06.023
2019-05-15T05:36:06.023
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question
grammar particles particle-か
What is the purpose of the か in this sentence?
The embedded "question" in this case isn't really a question, but it is there

> 「あなたがどれほど頑張っているか」

is the English equivalent of

> How hard you're working

For a very direct translation that comes out to something like

> I'm worried about how hard you're working

Though it's worth noting that while the English sounds like something you
would say to someone who you were worried was working too hard, the above
Japanese sounds to me like it means the opposite. Of course it's very
difficult to be certain without context.

Use of `どれぐらい`/`どう`/`どれほど`/etc. + `か` in subordinate clauses to talk about the
degree or manner of something is very common, the same way `how` is used in
subordinate clauses in English. Here's another example [from an online
dictionary](https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E8%87%AA%E5%88%86%E3%81%8C%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86%E6%80%9D%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%81%AE%E3%81%8B%E5%BF%83%E9%85%8D%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B):

> 自分がどう思われているのか心配する
>
> Worry about how one is being perceived

`思われてる` of course literally means "thought of" for "how one is being thought
of". "Perceived" is just more natural English.
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2019-05-15T05:32:23.863
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2019-05-15T05:32:23.863
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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answer