Syntactic structure of "what is something which is done"


What is this sentence syntactic structure?

> お国では何語を話すのですか。

If what the sentence is all about is "which language", why does the action
verb ("to talk") need to be nominalized?

I can't clear my mind about what this sentence means literally.




To break down:

  * **お国** : "your homeland". 国 can refer to one's homeland (see [this](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/question-markers/)). With お, it respectfully refers to the listener's homeland.
  * **で** : location marker
  * **は** : topic marker
  * **何語** : "what language"
  * **を** : direct object marker
  * **話す** : "to speak"
  * **の** : explanatory-の for [seeking clarification](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/question-markers/)
  * **です** : politeness marker
  * **か** : question marker

Put together, the literal translation of this sentence is "In your homeland,
what language do [you] speak?". The subject (あなた(は)) has been dropped because
it can be inferred by the context and the use of honorific お国.

のですか/んですか is a very common form of asking a question _for clarification_
(i.e., you need some context that led to the question). There is no direct
equivalent of this の/ん in English. Strictly speaking, this is a kind of
relative clause, but you may forget the word nominalization here.




To break down:

  * **お国** : "your homeland". 国 can refer to one's homeland (see [this](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/question-markers/)). With お, it respectfully refers to the listener's homeland.
  * **で** : location marker
  * **は** : topic marker
  * **何語** : "what language"
  * **を** : direct object marker
  * **話す** : "to speak"
  * **の** : explanatory-の for [seeking clarification](https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/question-markers/)
  * **です** : politeness marker
  * **か** : question marker

Put together, the literal translation of this sentence is "In your homeland,
what language do [you] speak?". The subject (あなた(は)) has been dropped because
it can be inferred by the context and the use of honorific お国.

のですか/んですか is a very common form of asking a question _for clarification_
(i.e., you need some context that led to the question). There is no direct
equivalent of this の/ん in English. Strictly speaking, this is a kind of
relative clause, but you may forget the word nominalization here.

