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- "There is no bathroom here."
"There is no bathroom here."
Translation:这儿没有洗手间。
61 Comments
Why would it not be structed like this?- 那儿没有洗手间这儿
To me that reads "There doesn't have bathroom here" wouldn't that be saying the same thing?
387
That's literally translated from English and the grammar in that Chinese sentence is not correct. Also, keep in mind that the "there" in "there is" doesn't always have the meaning of "over there", like "Is THERE a bathroom HERE?". The best way to say "there is" in Chinese is with the verb 有, preceded by 这儿 or 那儿. Location always has to be in the front of the sentence, or between the subject and the verb. For example: 这儿没有洗手间 would mean "There is no bathroom here." or if you want to translate it literally "Here (this palce here) doesn't have a bathroom". I hope that clears it up a bit
Usually, Chinese sentences begin with the more general fact/description ("here") and follow up with the more specific object ("the bathroom")
I agree with you, but Duo should clarify what they mean...they should say "We do not HAVE a bathroom here" instead of "There is no bathroom here"
Dialect. 这儿 is 北京话, the standard accent taught all over China. 这里 is used more in the south of China and, I gather from these discussion pages (do please correct me if I’m wrong), offshore in places like Taiwan, Singapore etc.
- 387
That is correct. 这儿 is more common in northern China (including Beijing), 这里 is more common in southern China and Taiwan, however both are correct to use.
Would it be ok yo say 洗手间没有这儿？Does 这儿 when asking always go at the beginning of phrases?
It’s less about where 这儿 goes in the sentence and more about how you use 没有 or 在。
So you could say: 洗手间不在这儿 to mean ‘the bathroom isn’t here’.
(But that’s not quite the same as ‘there is no bathroom here’ 这儿没有洗手间)
(洗手间没有这儿 is more like ‘the bathroom hasn’t got a here’ - nonsensical)
I hope this helps, that’s what I’m trying to do.
Yes that helps! -- also answering the question whether 'zhu er' could go at the end.
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/there
THERE has 2 common usages in US english: 1) regarding location
my hand is THERE on the table. (as opposed to here attached to my arm) go THERE! when will you be THERE?
2) regarding existence, to be present
THERE are flies everywhere. is THERE a cure for covid19? THERE will be blood.
frequently, it's used meaning both:
THERE(2) is no one THERE(1). is THERE(2) a reason to go THERE(1)?
那兒/那裡 na4r/na4li is equivalent to THERE(1). i want to say never THERE(2), but there could be an obsolete/archaic usage.
THERE(1) should be understood as "that place". i emphasize understood since duo will probably never translate it that way since "that place" could be translated differently.
mandarin chinese doesn't have an exact equivalent to THERE(2). it could be 有 like in this exercise. colloquially, "there is no bathroom here" is correct, but if you breakdown the chinese word-for-word, it would be "here(this place) / not / has(or be present) / bathroom". in grammatically intelligible US english, "this place(here) has no bathroom."
这儿不在洗手间 = here is not at the washroom
So, sorry, doesn’t quite mean what you want it to.
You’re missing “There is”.
Translating “There is” you really need 有 (or in this case 没有).
Yes, if it's an answer to a direct question e.g.
A: 你们有X吗？
B: 没有。
Otherwise you have to use personal pronoun.
| Chinese | English | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 这儿 | here | Zhè'er |
| 没有 | we don't have | méiyǒu |
| 洗手间 | toilet | xǐshǒujiān. |
Can 没有 be "don't have"? And if so, is 这儿没有 meaning "here doesn't have _". (This location doesn't have___)? Can it be used for lists of things?
- 387
Both are correct. 这儿 is more commonly heard in Northern China, 这里 is more commonly heard in the south
Verbatim this reads as ''Here not have bathroom'' . Isn't it better for Duolingo to give an accurate as possible English translation along with an idiomatic rendering? That allows for a better understanding of the sentence structure and different ways of expression of the same information.
Why is duolinguo using the pechinese pronunciation and not the standard mandarin one? Like with "shao", "sh" shouldn't be pronounced like in "shoe"
Does this means the word "There" is silent?
Why "哪儿没有洗手间" is not acceptable?
That would be more like: “The washroom is not here.”
You’d need 有 and 没有 to express “There is” and “there is no”.
No, 儿 is not compulsory. 这儿=这里.
儿 is a big part of the 北京 accent, which is the standard accent everyone learns (like learning the Parisian accent when learning French). Generally speaking you’ll hear 这儿 a lot in the north and 这里 more in the south.
You do need something though. 这 on it’s own just means “this” and you want this place = “here” = 这儿 = 这里。
- 387
You can't replace 没有 with 不在 in this sentence.
这儿没有洗手问 = "Here, there is no bathroom" 这儿不在洗手问 = "Here is not in the bathroom"
If you want to use 不在, you can say something like 洗手问不在这儿 "The bathroom is not in here".
Why is it when both there and here are in the same sentence, the na er gets cut out leaving only zhu er?
- 387
The "there" is present because of English grammar. 有 in sentences like these means "there is/there are", it's used to say that something exists or is happening. You could also translate it as "Here is no bathroom" but I think it's more common to use "there is/there are" in this case.
