Some questions about как and что I briefly understand that как roughly means 'how' and что means 'what'. But, in the question "Как ваша фамилия?", why aren't we using что instead of как? I understand

Kenneth

Some questions about как and что I briefly understand that как roughly means 'how' and что means 'what'. But, in the question "Как ваша фамилия?", why aren't we using что instead of как? I understand that "Как тебя зобут?" can be read as "How do [they] call you?", but what about "Как ваша фамилия?"? Thanks so much as I have been only learning a little bit of Russian.

Jul 31, 2014 6:59 AM

Answers · 8

You're, probably, confused because this Russian sentence isn't grammatically correct. It is a spoken version of the question. I would say that it would be more correct to ask it like that: Какая у вас фамилия? It is grammatically correct. But in the spoken Russian people often ask Как ваша фамилия? which is exactly a SPOKEN version of the question, I repeat.

July 31, 2014