How do I open the window?

[paper]

If I want to say "how do I open the window?" are these correct?
窓をどう開けるんですか
どうすると窓を開けるんですか

And do these mean "how does the window open?"
窓はどう開くんですか
どうすると窓が開くんですか

[Glenn]

Hmm, I think that sentences 1a and 2a are more correct than 1b and 2b. I would say that the former are fine, but I'm not sure how Japanese people would say it.

[paper]

ok, thanks Glenn!

[Elizabeth]

There may be way to use "dou shimasu" in these sentences (lit: what should I do to open the window), but 'dou suru to' looks strange to me as well. Also I'm thinking
douyatte is probably better than just dou for something like this involving the mechanics of actually operating/carrying out a function.

[paper]

Thanks Elizabeth! I saw examples of どうすると in the JFB textbook, but there was no translation, and I also don't remember seeing any explanation about どうすると. Here's one from the book:

どうすると開くんですか。
ボタンを押すと開きます。

Maybe I'm just not reading it correctly?

[Elizabeth]

Examples like that are most likely presented for their nice parallel construction of と開く more than a sampling of natural speech。どうすると as in 'if it's how/what' may be valid, but rare for sure. If you find any supporting examples from dictionaries, the internet, etc. let me know. I've come up pretty much empty so far myself.

[Glenn]

Originally Posted by paper

Thanks Elizabeth! I saw examples of どうすると in the JFB textbook, but there was no translation, and I also don't remember seeing any explanation about どうすると. Here's one from the book:

どうすると開くんですか。
ボタンを押すと開きます。

Maybe I'm just not reading it correctly?

Well, I've definitely seen the second one before. "If you push the button [the door] will open." So I guess the first one is valid, too. Literally, it is "if I do what will [the door] open?" From there we can get a grammatically close: "if I do what will [the door] open?" So a natural translation would be "what do I do to open [the door]?" or "what to I do to get [the door] to open?"

[Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by paper

If I want to say "how do I open the window?" are these correct?
窓をどう開けるんですか
どうすると窓を開けるんですか

And do these mean "how does the window open?"
窓はどう開くんですか
どうすると窓が開くんですか

I think dou suru to mado wo akerun desuka? is not correct in this situation.
Dou suru to is analogous to dou yattara, or "Wow! What is your secret?" "How come you can do that?" in response to a surprising or unexpected happening.

[NANGI]

Konnichiwa paper-san!

If I want to say "how do I open the window?" are these correct?
窓をどう開けるんですか
どうすると窓を開けるんですか

"窓をどう開けるんですか" is good, but "どうすると窓を開けるんですか" is not good.

Elizabeth already said, "どうやって窓を開けるんですか" is good.
But I think "どうやって窓を開けるのですか" is better.

And other ways "どうすると窓は開きますか" and "どうすれば窓は開きますか" are good too! In this case, the subject word is "窓" but not "わたし", and you can not use "開ける". Because "開ける" is used with person or personal pronoun.

"わたしが窓を開ける"
"なんぎが窓を開ける"

"どうすると<わたしは>窓を開けることができますか？" is good. But it means "How can I open the window?"

And do these mean "how does the window open?"
窓はどう開くんですか
どうすると窓が開くんですか

"窓はどう開くんですか" is good.
"どうすると窓が開くんですか" means "how do I open the window?".

NANGI

[paper]

Thank you!