Use of どんな with no following noun


> そんなことはどうでもいいよ。『例のあの人』が **どんな** だったか覚えてると思う? (Japanese TL)  
>  Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?
> (original Harry Potter text)

I'm confused at seeing どんな with no noun following. It feels like it ought to
be 『例のあの人』がどんな **人** だったか (what kind of **person** was You-Know-Who?), or
something like that.

Is this grammatical? Is it common? When can it be done?




大辞泉 lists
[どんな](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A9%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA/#jn-162106)
as 形動=na-adjective, according to which どんなだった is a totally grammatical plain
usage.

For the particular case, どんな人だった sounds like referring to the personality (the
person was gentle or nasty or whatever) and どんなだった feels more appropriate when
talking about the appearance.

In terms of idiomaticity, I can't give a clear distinction, but as you guessed
どんなだった is less common (or less frequently used) than どんな＋Noun or どう.

  1. How was the travel? 旅行はどうだった (どんなだった is less common)
  2. What kind of person was he? 彼はどんなひとでしたか
  3. How was he? (彼はどんなでしたか)

I think the difference between 2/3 in English more or less corresponds to that
in Japanese. 2 asks what _he_ was like as a person and 3 about his condition.
In some specific contexts, 彼はどんなでしたか can be used (e.g. the asker knows _he_ is
ill and asking the person who visited him how ill he was), but in most cases
彼は元気でしたか is more appropriate (just like _how are you_ ).




大辞泉 lists
[どんな](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A9%E3%82%93%E3%81%AA/#jn-162106)
as 形動=na-adjective, according to which どんなだった is a totally grammatical plain
usage.

For the particular case, どんな人だった sounds like referring to the personality (the
person was gentle or nasty or whatever) and どんなだった feels more appropriate when
talking about the appearance.

In terms of idiomaticity, I can't give a clear distinction, but as you guessed
どんなだった is less common (or less frequently used) than どんな＋Noun or どう.

  1. How was the travel? 旅行はどうだった (どんなだった is less common)
  2. What kind of person was he? 彼はどんなひとでしたか
  3. How was he? (彼はどんなでしたか)

I think the difference between 2/3 in English more or less corresponds to that
in Japanese. 2 asks what _he_ was like as a person and 3 about his condition.
In some specific contexts, 彼はどんなでしたか can be used (e.g. the asker knows _he_ is
ill and asking the person who visited him how ill he was), but in most cases
彼は元気でしたか is more appropriate (just like _how are you_ ).

