"我们会坐地铁去酒店吗？"
Translation:Will we take the subway to the hotel?
71 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
This is tricky - "Can we take the subway to the hotel?" was rejected, but it is technically correct. But at the same time "会" also means "Will", a future tense construct. A better sentence would probably be something like "我们明天会坐地铁去酒店吗？ "
For the English "can", I think the Chinese should have either "neng" or "ke yi".
能 is more of the physical ability 可以 is more of being allowed to do something, and the example character 会 means more of the skillful ability or knowing how to do a task. I think it should be 能 that is used in this situation because 能 is more like do we have the physical ability to take the subway to the hotel and not 会 or 可以。
No, it is extremely strange to translate "我们会坐地铁去酒店吗？" to "Can we take the subway to the hotel?", because this means "Do we have the knowledge to take the subway?". This sounds like you are a little child, and this is the first time ever you take the subway.
If you want to ask in the sense that "Does the subway lead us to the hotel?", then it would be "我们能够做地铁去酒店吗？".
'Can' means several things. 会 only means one of them: 'know how to'. It is weird to ask, 'Do we know how to take the subway to the hotel?' So for this sentence, 'can' is a bad translation of 会 and we should use 'will' instead.
This is how I understood the sentence too. I hope "Can we take the subway to the hotel" can be accepted as a correct translation as well.
"will we take the subway to go to the hotel" was not allowed and I think should be
I disagree. This course is about learning the Chinese (Mandarin) language, not about all possible meanings a Chinese sentence can have in the English language.
Native speaker from Taiwan here: I'm not entirely sure "酒店" is actually the translation for hotel, I always thought it was "旅馆." We use 酒店 for karaoke bars that older men go to... (Unless they really do say this in mainland?)
酒 (jiǔ) = wine/liquor
店 (diàn) = inn/shop/store
酒店 (jiǔ diàn) = wine shop/hotel/restaurant
地 (dì) = earth/ground/place
铁 (tiě) = iron/weapons/hard/strong
地铁 (dì tiě) = iron ground = subway/metro
569
Ok found that :
It seems hotels were called 饭店 in the ROC period, ever since western hotel was introduced into China. 和平饭店,锦江饭店 are both of prestigious hotels origined from that time. After 1949, the hotels are still called 饭店, 北京饭店, 昆仑饭店,贵宾楼饭店 are all still called 饭店.
The change came in the 1980's, when the Mainland market was beginning to be opened to HongKong and the whole world. If not mistaken, it is HongKong who is accustomed to call hotel as 酒店. According to what I found online, the Peninsular Hotel of HK was originally builded in 1922, since then it is called 半岛酒店 in Chinese. As hotel management should be one of advantages of HK and most hotel investment in Mainland China have HK businessmen's participation. So it is understandable, the term 酒店 was getting more and more prevalent from that time on in Mainland China.
By the way, I learned from Taiwan's TV programs, that hotel was called as 饭店 in TW too, such as the most famous hotel is called 圆山饭店 in Chinese. But the term 酒店 in Taiwan has totally different meaning from the Mainland, it refers to entertaiment places.
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Why is 会 always used to translate "will"? I thought it was used to express the possibility of something happening. :/
It can have several meanings, such as the skill to do something eg 你会用筷子吗？ This is generally not asking if someone will use chopsticks or if there is the possibility they will use chopsticks, but rather whether they have the skill of being able to use chopsticks. 你会说中文吗？is also another example of where 会 is also used in this way of skill/ability I think in the example given "我们会坐地铁去酒店吗" will would probably be the most common translation. Given that it's in question form, I think " will" and " the possibility of something happening" are effectively the same question.
I have the same question. 会 has multiple uses, one of which is to represent "will." Another use is as you mentioned, that something is likely to happen. I do feel like this could be translated as "Are we likely to take the subway to the hotel?"
I agree with your translation, I think it is more accurate that the current answer given in DL.
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Let me ask the question a different way. I am standing at a metro station on the west side of Beijing. I want to go to my hotel on the east side of beijing. I ask my friend "can i take the subway to my hotel?" How would you translate that to Chinese?
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I heard it many times over before deciding he is definitely saying it wrong. It helped that there was only 我们 as an option to start the sentence. (No other word starting with 我.
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Hi
Is there a languistic explanation in chenese for using 酒 and 店 together for Hotel, as a hotel has nothing to do with alcohol or shop (etymologically speaking)
My logic would have created a word with bed, sleep, something like that ... :)
I'm trying to test out so I'm not sure what duolingo said the meaning of "酒店” was, but I put restaurant because that's what it also means. Can restaurant be acceptable?
Native speaker from Taiwan here: I'm not entirely sure "酒店" is actually the translation for hotel, I always thought it was "旅馆." We use 酒店 for karaoke bars that older men go to...
It's one of several words that are used for "hotel", a bit like "inn", "tavern", and "lodge" which used to be rather distinct have now become pretty much synonymous with hotel. Hilton uses 酒店 in it's name https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh/希爾頓全球酒店集團
jeez.. i have to work on my english.. only managed to phrase that properly in 3 go :)
I guess: 'Will we take the underground to the hotel?" should be accepted too.
no subway is not underground subway is in underground but subway is not underground
Actually subway, underground, tube and metro (and probably couple more) are all the same depending on the country. In London the transportation system is called underground and everybody refers to it as underground (or tube). If I wanted to play your game I would say that subway is an underground passage not an underground train.
https://multimedia-english.com/grammar/underground-subway-metro-tube-59
What's the difference between a subway train and an underground train, beyond locale?
I'd got the impression that 地铁 meant underground (train) but Will we take the underground to the hotel? wasn't accepted. What's the Chinese for underground (train)?
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"Are we going to the hotel on the subway ?" was marked wrong in a Legendary Challenge - I don't understand why ?
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Dear nativespeakers, doesn't it sound weird to take subway or something else that big to the hotel? I would use smth like GET TO instead, as my imagination draws me a strange picture when I think of taking the subway to the hotel. It is ok to take a toy or pet to the hotel and to take a bus or subway TO GET TO the hotel. IMHO. Thank you for your answer in advance.
If I was aiming to be more precise than usual I would say it as you say. But if I'm in speaking with less precision I would just say "take the the subway to the hotel" if it would cover the majority of my travel to the hotel.
Good god can they please update the accepted answers? I'm sick of these language trees being immediately abandoned after release.
how come when i put in "do we need to go by subway to the hotel' it was incorrect ? please answer
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My answer "Will we be riding the subway to the hotel?" was marked wrong and the correct answer given is "Will we ride the subway to the hotel?". I made a report.
Not everywhere in the world uses the name "subway". Some use "metro"/"underground"/"tube"/"mass rapid transit (MRT)". "Trains" as a more universal term should be accepted instead.
But train is 火车, right? So 地铁 is specifically an underground train? (I agree "metro", "underground", "tube" etc should be accepted.
Yep - Feb 2019 I just had the exact sentence with "underground" instead of subway, rejected.
'Shall we take the metro to the hotel' should be accepted. 'Will we take the metro to the hotel' is a) unnatural and b) requires particular context to make sense.
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"Will we take the metro to the hotel?" was also corrected to "Will we take the subway to the hotel?".
I typed "Will we take subway to go to the hotel?" and was rejected. Are you serious??
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Again and again the same problem: Once you accept only "use" once only "take" - this is not good! "Will we use the subway to the hotel?" should be accepted ... - this is valid for all this sentences!
No, that is not English.
You can "get", "catch", "take" or even "ride" a metro train somewhere.
If you want to use "use" your sentence would have to be "Will we use the subway to get to the hotel" although I suspect that Duo might not accept that answer here.