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- "My father has eight siblings…
"My father has eight siblings."
Translation:父は兄弟が八人います。
60 Comments
Why is "Chichi wa 8 jin kyoudai ga imasu" taken as wrong? 1) i thought word order roughly didn't matter in Japanese sentences and 2) why is there no particle for kyoudai here?
I got that corrected to 父は八人のきょうだいがいます。But I've heard the の be omitted before, this was surprising.
normally when you count something in japanese the number stands with the verb. like when you order two drinks or whatever you would say ~を2ください.
in your case with the number in front of the object it would be connected with a の: 8人の兄弟
and the particle for kyoudai is the ga.
at leats thats what i have learned so far
Kyodai in japanese includes oneself.ie there are 8 siblings would translate as mother has 7 siblings in english
Could you put the number before siblings? Is there a different grammer for putting a counter before the noun?
This is really clumsy language. 私の is entirely superficial, の between 八人 and 兄弟 is pointless when you can just say 兄弟八人, and also your version of the sentence should end in "desu"
Using the の would mean somewhat like "My father's eight siblings". The correct answer for this would be 父はきょうだい が 八人います、which literally translates into "Regarding my father, regarding siblings, there are eight."
I know this is old but it's also wrong
Duo uses 2 structures in these sections, which you can use to count things in Japanese
「父は『兄弟が』『八人→います』」
「父は『八人の兄弟』がいます」
are both correct, you can even skip the の particle in the second example and it's correct but duolingo doesn't let you because this is only common in speech and no that much in text.
More about this: https://www.wasabi-jpn.com/japanese-grammar/how-japanese-counting-systems-work-in-a-sentence/
You do not need the 'no' particle to give a proper answer. It is not an issue that it is missing. It, however, should be an option.
Exactly as written. 父はきょうだいが八人います chichi wa kyōdaiga hachinin-imas(u)
Alternatively, as requested as a complete sentence: 私の父は兄弟が8人います ・watashi no chichi wa kyōdaiga hachinin-imasu
Yes, but は is not わ, は is pronounced "wa" only as a particle, it's still written as "ha", same with exceptions regarding へ and を, and the often-silent -u in す and -i in 何
Correct, except that 何 can be written as either なん or なに. With the -u in す, it is still pronounced, just devoiced, while in 何 there is an actual distiction in use
why is there 兄弟 instead of 親戚? 親戚 - sibilings, relatives, 兄弟 - brothers. Especially in the same lesson where there are BOTH of those words!
I find it odd that i've found just one person pointing out that the problem that the correct answer expects 兄弟 for "siblings".
I used お父さん instead of 父 and was marked wrong -- is there some reason that is an inappropriate translation?
When referring to your own father you do not use the o before chichi. Not-using "O" is used to sound more polite or humble. It is basically to not elevate your own father above someone else's. (That is good manners) However it is correct to use the O before chichi if talking about someone else's father.
お父さん is very childish language, akin to "daddy" or "papa", even if it is in certain situations respectful.
I think you're making two errors: 1) You have to use 人 as a counter when you count people. Your sentence has no counter. 2) If you say "(noun) + ga + imasu" you mean "there is a (noun)" or "I have a (noun)" (in absence of more context, I guess the first person is always implicit). In this sentence, you first set the topic in "(my) father" and then you say "he has eight siblings". See http://blogs.transparent.com/japanese/あります-versus-います/
Why is it that, very often, when I get an answer wrong it gives me a correct answer that includes characters that were not in my list of available options and does not directly correspond to the answer presented on the discussion page here?
Nah, man. The page's "correct answer" indicates to use "no" but doesn't give me the character. It is also a very different configuration of words than the answer listed on this page.
There are multiple correct ways to say the given sentences usually. There will have been a way to form the sentence using the original characters you were given.
Obviously, ideally, you wouldn't be given a separate "correct answer" than the one you were able to make, even though they are both acceptable translations. Just a case of Duo not being totally flawless.
136
When talking to someone outside your family, you shouldn't use honorific language in reference to yourself or to members of your own family, because it sounds like you are boasting about how honourable your family is.
How come the number sometimes goes before the object and sometimes after? I can't figure out the difference and duo seems to be enforcing the rules arbitrarily?
in「父は『兄弟が』『八人→います』」the counter is directly modifying the verb, is an expression of extent, "siblings exists to the extent of eight".
in「父は『八人の兄弟』がいます」which assume is the other structure you have seen in duo, is a noun being modified by a counter, 八人 is modifying 兄弟、This is not as common as the first one, the difference here is that you can express delimitation (not necessarily) with the second one, while the first one is just a normal counting. What is delimitation? consider the difference between these sentences:
「兄弟が2人います」"brothers exists to the extent of 2"
「2人の兄弟がいます」"brothers exists to the point of 2"
「りんごを2個食べます」"I will eat apples to the extent of 2"
「2個のりんごを食べます」"I will eat the 2 apples"
- 136
You would use "chichi" when talking to someone outside your family about your own father.
You would use "otōsan" (note the long "o"), which is an example of honorific language, when referring to someone's else's father, to show respect.
When talking to someone outside your family, you shouldn't use honorific language in reference to yourself or to members of your own family, because it sounds like you are boasting about how honourable your family is.
Why is it that the "correct answer" displayed when I get this wrong doesn't line up with this discussion page, or the available selectable characters?
「父は兄弟が８人います」
【ちちは・きょうだいは・はちにん→います】
more about the ～人 counter here:
Hi there, maybe I am way off, or way ahead, but I heard this word used for "My" and that is わが. but わが父は姉弟が八人います was marked as wrong. In other sentences when I use 僕の or 私の in front of the sentence as added my, it works. Can わが work in these sentences? And if not, why? Thanks.
我が is the combination of 我 (a first-person archaic pronoun) and が which used to be the "genitive case" in old Japanese (の now takes its place in modern Japanese).
This sounds very old-fashioned to me and it's often heard in dramas and seen in literary works, so 我が父 would probably be used how you would use "my dear father" in English. You use that wording to imply that there is something special in it. Most of the time it's used for 我が国 "our dear country", 我ら "Us (in a very formal tone)" or 我が子 "my dear child". Those are not literal translations but is how I understand that they are used. I could see「我が父は姉弟が8人います」working, but it would probably strike as a weird wording for normal conversation.
Here is an extract from the wiki that I think it could be useful to you:
"This is a fossilized phrase, and usage is somewhat restricted. Carries old-fashioned connotations, and suggests a favorable view of the following noun. When used in reference to an organization, the speaker must be a member of that organization."
I read the article thank you for posting. So is it pronounced "ware"? =I, me, oneself I like the word wareware=we or us. Is wareware an archaic term (like ware) or is wareware still used today?
- 1377
Yet another out of place segment. This has nothing to do with telling time. This sentence was in this lesson. https://www.duolingo.com/skill/ja/Time/practice
This sentence is first introduced in the Family skill, when you do practices on skills that you have golden/5 crowns the practice will often draw questions from later skills to keep you practicing some newer material rather than relying on skills you have shown to have mastered already for XP
