"Do you have a cell phone?"
Translation:携帯電話は持っていますか？
77 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
the answer is "は" on the question.
I've been wanting to know how to ask "do you have a microphone" online... and one time i said
"マイクを待っていますか？" and the person understood and answered,
but I've also heard a Japanese person ask another person
"マイクがある？"
was just wondering what the most natural way to ask this question is (and if it sounds a little foreigner-ish to say 持っていますか)
I believe that 'motsu' means to posses, a little more formal and direct than 'aru' or 'iru'.
I'm no expert here (if some expert could clarify, that would be great) but 持っていますか？ is quite formal, something that would sound appropriate for example in a conference call, whereas ある？ is more appropriate for something like online gaming.
What you said means more like "Is there a phone," whereas this sentence is "Do you have a phone in your possession"
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No, because it's not talking about the location of the phone. Here arimasu means have. It's a perfectly valid way of asking someone if they have something and it's just as commonly used as motte imasu. In fact motte imasu is probably more accurately translated as do you have it on you right now/currently.
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Google "携帯があります" and it's basically all cell phone companies saying "we have phones". Yes, technically in English we translate it as have, but really it means "there are phones" or "phones exist" in their stores.
No it is an unnatural way to ask someone has it by using ありますか. Something that a native speaker never uses
That was my first guess as well. I think a better English sentence might be "Do you carry a cell phone [with you]"
I dont know why you are getting so many downvotes. In uni, i learned "motsu" is "have" as in like holding something, and that "ga aru" can mean have, but usually means possesion.
Instead of downvoting alone, maybe leave a well constructed rebuttal alomg with where you get your info.
I'm from china so I would use 携带电话 instead of けいたい because that what Duo accepts only, u can report if you want your answer to be accepted
Because は is taking it's place. は kinda says "as for this (whatever comes before it) So it's putting emphasis on the phone in this case instead of on you, because it's implied that you'd be there and carrying it, if you have one
no I mean 攜帶電話 (Chinese) is better but Duo fsr just accept answers to belong to the same language family of - Chinese-Korean-Japanese
We've spent the first half of the course learning "...がありますか?" to ask "Do you have a ...?"
Now that's suddenly wrong?
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...が ありますが literally means 'is there a ... ' and can be used to ask 'do you have ...' 持つ means 'to hold/have'
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Either is fine BUT 電話は does sound a little clunky and is trickier to say. If I was talking with friends I would simply say けいたい 持ってる？Plain form, no particles.
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Motte imasu do you have /have you got it right now? Arimasu do you have/have you got. Motte imasu is more immediate.
Of verb 持つ, which form is more correct to use to indicate possession? The present simple form (持つ/持ちます) or the continuous form (持っている/持っています)?
For current possession it will usually be the -てい-. The simple form is good for "pick up" sometimes, or for saying something will "keep/last"; no object in this case.
Could this also be: 持ちますか？ If not, is it grammatically incorrect, semantically, or both?
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No, 持つ (motsu) is just one of those verbs that you need to use in the present progressive form (持っています) to mean that something is currently in one's possession (where in English we would usually just use the present tense).
Does anyone else have the issue where sometimes the right particles/characters are NOT provided by Duo to select? I've run into this three times now...
First one didn't have wo(o), but second one had wa https://www.duolingo.com/comment/22896119 And third one has o again?
I consider to use the te form is equivalent to 'having" your phone on you at the time of asking.
@Duolingo: The correct answer should be 「携帯電話を持っていますか。」but only 「は」was offered instead of 「を」, which is unnatural.
I complained about that too, a month or so ago. As I said then, it would be OK for "Do you have your phone with you?" But the only way to get their answer, for over a year with no fix, is to switch from tile to keyboard.
Yes I thought it sounds like ^the cell phone" or "your cell phone" if は is used instead of を.
So using は instead of を is correct when it's about phones, but not refrigirators. Great work Duo.
Okay maybe I'm nitpicking or something but I tried to add a mark of politeness by adding お at the beginning of the sentence. I got denied, am I missing something?
お prefixes nominal forms, not sentences, and 携帯電話 isn't the sort of noun that takes it.
I feel that Japanese would fit better with "Do you have your cell phone?"
Is it possible to ask using only 電話 instead of 携帯電話? That's what we used in my classes but we just said "phone" so I'm wondering if 電話 can also mean CELL phone or only home phone... The exercise didn't accept it when I tried that, but I wanted to ask to make sure
電話 would not be possible for that, but just saying 携帯 would be. It's also listed as an acceptable answer in most exercises too.
So why is there wa ???? Last question it was wo for almost exact same thing ... makes absolutely no sense to me even after reading comments
携帯を持っているの is accepted, but exactly the same construct for the "she has a cute cell phone" (彼女はかわい携帯を持っている) isn't. Both the questions are 3 years old, so it can't be for lack of reported suggested alternatives...
It's hard to imagine a cell phone being alive. Try ありますか, but Duo probably wants something fancier.
No, います only for living (animate) things. ありますか would sort of work, but more like "Is there a cell phone" than "Do you possess a cell phone."
I think it would be OK for "Do you own a cellphone?" I understand the Japanese here as "Do you have your cellphone on you?"
It makes it mean "Does the cell phone have it?" or maybe "Is it the cell phone that owns one?" Hard to see a likely meaning.
As a work around it is possible to copy-and-paste text from somewhere else to get the "wo"
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When it's a question with tiles to choose there is an option to switch to a keyboard and type your own answer in. I think I have only seen this on my pc though, not on my cell.