All Questions
Tagged with grammar preposition
17
questions
0
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2
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58
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Can something be inserted between "你能借我橡皮" and "用一下吗?"?
你能借我橡皮用一下吗?
你(you)能(able)借(lend)我(me)橡皮(an eraser)用(which is to be used)一下(for a moment)吗(ok)?
I have 2 translations against the original sentence.
Can you lend me an eraser for a moment? (free ...
- 626
3
votes
1
answer
79
views
How to do the naming "of" construct in Chinese?
In English (or Spanish), you use "of" (and other prepositions), for doing complex names, such as people or place names in some cases:
The seat of the great rock of the north.
The man of the ...
- 1,258
2
votes
3
answers
77
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Is it grammatically correct to omit 在 in prepositional phrases
In the sentence below, it seems like 在 has been omitted.
我们留学生楼两个人住一间。
(Two students live in a dormitory in our international student building.)
I guess the original sentence was:
在我们留学生楼两个人住一间。
Is it ...
- 1,305
1
vote
3
answers
95
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Structure for the phrase 尾班車開出前5分鐘
In this phrase: 尾班車開出前5分鐘, is meant to signify “5 minutes before the departure of the last train”.
I find the structure a bit strange for me. In my mind, I would have thought of something like: ...
- 1,052
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2
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102
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Are the words 心里, 街上, and 夜里 nouns or prepositional phrases?
Are the words 心里, 街上, and 夜里 nouns or prepositional phrases[1][2]?
- I can not tell if 心里 means 'heart', or 'in my heart'.
It is possible to have 心里 or 心 in front of a verb, giving the impression that ...
- 600
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2
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139
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Is it grammatically incorrect to use 问 with the prepositions 向 or 对?
The grammar surrounding 问 seems to be a gap in my knowledge. Using "two objects" seems okay:
我问了他一个问题。
他问那女孩：“你结婚了吗？”
But judging from a lack of examples online, using the prepositions 向 ...
- 16.6k
2
votes
2
answers
420
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How to more carefully explain how coverbs work in Chinese?
I learned that Chinese uses coverbs instead of prepositions. But it's not 100% clear to me what the difference is between coverbs and prepositions, as the Wiki page and several sites are hand-wavy, ...
- 1,258
4
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2
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651
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I do not really understand the word order in these four examples
这个故事发生在上个世纪末.
I wonder if 发生 could be placed after 在上个世纪末. Shouldn't time be placed before a verb?
电梯已经可以正常使用了
正常 is an adjective, and adjectives describe nouns? Can't 使用 work as a noun?
...
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4
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3
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210
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A city is located east/north/west/south of a country; what is the correct Chinese grammar for that?
For example:
I want to say that Freiburg (in Germany) is located east of France.
My sentence was this:
弗莱堡在法国的东边。
This is also how we did it in class. But I'm starting to worry this sounds like it's ...
- 43
0
votes
1
answer
59
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What does 的 mean in 表示对某人某事的亲近和关心?
In the following sentence which explains the usage of ～长～短 phrase:
中间嵌入两个相同的名词，表示对某人某事的亲近和关心。
I don't understand what the 的 here means. Does it refer to "of ~" but what should be after 的 is ...
- 5,444
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3
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407
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How does 在 function in 男女结合在一起?
In 男女结合在一起, how does the 在 work grammatically?
I'm sure it does not mean "~ing", which should be before the 结婚 (and the meaning gets awkward then).
The sentence should mean:
A man and woman got ...
- 5,444
4
votes
2
answers
371
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How can I negate time and when to place 在 before time?
I know we can negate place, manner, etc. by just placing a 不 before the verbs (prepositions) that introduce the clauses.
我不在中国工作。
他不坐车去工作。
But how can I negate time, since it doesn't have a verb/...
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1
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Take a picture of me/for me (which preposition better translates)?
As an experienced tourist in China, I know the sentence:你能不能给我（们）相的照吗？
Although it gives the desired result-- someone taking a picture of me, for me, with my own camera-- I am not sure of the exact ...
- 139
4
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2
answers
284
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The tricky prepositions. . . "in my garden"
I think prepositions are tricky in every language. The other day I was trying to figure out how to write correctly : In my garden there are many fruit-trees. The first sentence I thought of was:
...
- 421
10
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7
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Is it correct to say “在手机”？
Would it be correct to use the phrase "在手机”/“在手机上” etc. to express that I am doing something on my phone? For example, could I say
我听音乐在我的手机上。
Or can 在 only be used for my actual physical location?...
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