"What is your name?"
Translation:你叫什么名字?
349 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
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There are two different characters for Ming. One is a surname, a person called Ming and one is used in "shenme mingsu" What does the Mingsu part mean and is it just coincidence that they sound the same, like wood and would in English for example?
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Yes I've realised this the more I learn, like lao shi and shi are completely different characters. Thank you for the reply :-)
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With playback speed from 0.25 to 2!
If you're not sure of the pronunciation of a phrase, say 泰山 (which is tàishān by the way), google search ”泰山读音“ and the 汉语拼音 and the meaning in English and Chinese comes out.
Using the ...... translation option, you can break down the sentence a bit and see how it is subtly teaching possessive (i think) "your" and the verb to be (i think) "is"
It's right in line with the learning process style used here, where we have to explore and learn just as much as they have to teach and reveal.
I love the fact we have to figure things out on our own. However, translating literally as you go is counter productive - take "nijiao shenme mingzi" (I have no way to write Chinese here)
You could also ask "nijiao shenme"? And get the same answer... Perhaps? That's all we should care about this early into our journey IMO.
Instead of focusing on the possessive, I'd go a different way and realize there is NO possessive needed to state your name. The math of it is wo + jiao = what I'm called ie. What I would state as "my name is _"
Anyway, check out yellowbridge.com - there are a bunch of Chinese character related resources. It helps me greatly in learning them by looking at their etymology. Good luck :)
叫 is "to be called", so in the examples they use 叫 they are usually saying "You are called what?" In this example they are literally asking "Your name is what?". Also your answer is missing 是 for "is". I don't know why 的 is required, but I have noticed that it often comes after 你/我 when using them with 是. I just started a few days ago too so someone more experienced can answer
You need 的, because that is how you state that something is your possessed by the person mention before using 的. Therefore 你的名字 literally means "your name". I must also say that if the person you are talking to is close to you, lime a friend or family member you can avoid using 的. For example, you can avoid it when saying my dad "我爸爸" instead of “我的爸爸”.
So the structure of the answer they're looking for is 'your name is what?'
Both 的 (de, indicating possessive, a bit like "'s" in English - so 你的 is like "you's", or rather "your") and 是 (shì, which can mean 'this' or 'to be' or 'is') are unfamiliar to me at this point in the course, and I'm finding it really hard getting the hang of them without being given a meaning or even a pronunciation. So looking them up elsewhere and posting my understanding here is my attempt to get over that. :)
Really maddening to be introduced to them by being expected to use them in a sentence, and then being asked again and again with nothing to hang them on!
you call what name? You (your, separate symbol) name be what (chinese does not have different forms in verbs)
That is exactly what i am missing, all at once they give another symbol without any explanation why
Basically they prefer the direct structure for the sentence. Questions are made by replacing the word with a special "question word" (what, where, which etc), or by adding "general question word" at the end of the sentence (for general questions.
So this is the original statement:
Your (你 + 的)name (名字) is (是) Andrea.
To make a special question we replace the answer with a "what". 什么
Your 你的 name 名字 is 是 what 什么?
你(you)的(possessive particle, so "you" becomes "your")名字(name)是(is)什么(what). So, the sentence is "your name is what". As there is a "question word" in the sentence, it becomes a question when translated to English, as "What is your name". As commented by others, 你(you)叫(are called)什么(what)名字(name), something like "What name are you called by?" is valid too.
I don't have access to a Chinese keyboard but the proposed answer is: Ni3 de ming2zi4 shi4 shen2me? (using numbers for tones) Ni3 means you De indicates that what is before de qualifies what is after de. Here it means possession: "ni3 de something" means "your something". Here it can be omitted because a name is always considered personal. Ming2zi4 means name Shi4 means is. I believe it can also be omitted here. Shen2me means what.
So the sentence means, word for word: You 's name is what? That you can translate by "what is your name?"
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The website has a grammer section to go along with the skill. But yes, the app needs it too.
I am a beginner in the Chinese course, and I have been doing the review exercises. For some reason, in all of the main lessons I've done, I've never been taught the character 的. I don't know how they expect me to answer a question correctly if I haven't even been taught the answer. If this is a bug or something, can you please fix this Dualingo? If it's not, can anyone tell me where I might have missed this being initially taught?
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的 is a 语助词 or an ancillary, sometimes accessory character. It can mean possession as part of a 短语, which is a phrase with three or more characters forming a "semantic unit", and as accessory it can be used to make the sentence sound smoother as a whole.
I'm not sure how to explain it because I learnt Chinese grammar (as I remember it) from examples and the explanations only came up after the "foundations" were completed, which goes to show how little rules there actually are.
Actually, if you're not sure of the pronunciation or meaning, just copy and and google search it using the formula "(word)+意义". You're welcome to copy that too.
What I wish existed was a word practice option with Chineasy pictures. The words I know really well are from my Chineasy study. And I wish they every time there was a new character that you are hearing and identifying the sound, the character appeared to you in stroke order. I would like to write down words with their meaning, and hear the sound, see the stroke order, and have a picture memory device. This language is like bike riding with a passenger in a basket in the front, there are a lot of moving parts of meaning to balance at the same time.
I don't have the word bank for jiao! How possibly can I complete the lesson ?
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I had the same problem, but found the answer in KX3's reponse: It could be because another way of asking the question is expected: 你的名字是什么? When I had 'm in that order, it was approved. Pfew!
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I had the same problem, but found the answer in KX3's reponse: It could be because another way of asking the question is expected: 你的名字是什么? When I had 'm in that order, it was approved. Pfew!
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Please help? The 叫 in the 'Correct solution isn't even an option! And it won't let me go further! When I hit 'skip', it's just show me the 'correct solution', and when I hit 'continue' , it keeps giving me that one sentence to translate. Ugh... Any idea how I can get past this? If I 'quit' I will lose everything I did ...
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I hope I'm referring to the sentence you're having trouble with. Try finding the characters for: ni de mingze shi shen me
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Thank your for your reaction! I found the answer in KX3's response shortly after I posted my question (but couldn't find my question anymore to tell I'd found a solution): It could be because another way of asking the question is expected: 你的名字是什么? When I had 'm in that order, it was approved. Pfew!
Here is a good explanation of how to say phrases such as this: https://www.digmandarin.com/all-video-lessons/what-is-your-name-in-chinese
Yeah, I am absolutely sure that Duolingo provides the incorrect options in the drop down menus of the words "your name."
According to Google Translate, 你叫 means "your name," and it does not show up in the drop down menu of the word "your," or the word "name" in this Duolingo question.
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I'm not sure about the drop-down options, but 你叫 means "You are called". Sometimes, or often, as seems to be the case, the meaning(s) given are for individual characters and not the "word" or phrase they form, which may be one reason for the inaccuracy.
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The solution they gave me didn't have the character they wanted. I am banging my head against the key board.
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This is not usefull at all for learning a new language when you know neither the signs nor the sounds
I wish there were more explanations about the characters. I also write down all of the new symbols and sentences I've learnt and it seems like there's maybe 3 different ways to ask for your name and if you don't put the exact one they want it's incorrect even if it's been accepted as right in the past. It's a bit confusing.
How come the characters are not translated from the begining like the numbers and names it only shows the symbols and transliteration but no translation. in the spanish course it wad much simpler and everything is translated how are we suppose to learn the language easier with knowing what the symbols mean before hand and in what order they come . very hard for beginners .
I know this is new but it would be good if there was an explanation of the use of "叫" as opposed to 的. I get it right because I've done it wrong so many times I've now memorized the order but it would be helpful if there was an explanation. I'm just assuming that I'm a one-year old in Chinese and will eventually get it.
I don't understand what order to put it in. The literal order of the answer above is "Your name is what?" but how would I know not to write it as "什么是你的名字?"
I was seriously confused over this. I don't feel like they gave any information on what sequence the characters should be in, and the translation (dotted line thingies), although they tell what the characters should be, are not much help either. Maybe I'm just being picky, or this is how the course is supposed to run, but I feel like they may have to give a better understanding of the grammar side of the language.
Also with the whole missing 'Jiao' character- It left us... nooo... But seriously, I've been using it this whole time and now you expect us to figure out and learn the phrase another way entirely? Again, before this question I was not informed how to phrase it one way, let alone two. Thanks for listening to my two cents :)
Ange1ic, if you're on Windows, you can go to the settings window for "keyboard," and choose add language. (I'm not at home right now, so those are approximations)
From there, you can add simplified or traditional Chinese. I believe it's called Microsoft Pinyin, and it will allow you to type in Pinyin, and characters will pop up on the screen next to where you are typing. The first character in the list is what will be used, or you can press the number key corresponding to the number next to the character you want. You can type out a whole sentence before submitting it to be converted to characters, but sometimes it doesn't give you the right thing, so I usually just type a few characters at a time.
I'm not sure how to install a Chinese keyboard on Mac, but I'd assume it's similar.
The question word goes where the answer would go. 你的名字是 什么 is literally Your name is what? And the answer would be: 我的名字是 什么 replacing 什么 with your name. Where as 你叫什么名字 You are called what name? would be I am called name. Again replacing the "What" with the answer. So the grammar rule is basically, make the statement, but replace the answer with the question word.
There were two "correct" solutions, and I was looking for the second one which had been exercised earlier, but the symbol for "called" was not available. Why not ? As the first "correct" answer hadn't been exercised earlier , it's not surprising that I got it wrong!! This weakness in the course should be rectified so that other people don't have to suffer the same frustration as me!!
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Can someone pronounce the ownership character and upvote it? It would help a lot of people.
https://chinesefor.us/lessons/say-ask-people-name-chinese-mandarin/ I´m hopeful that it can help you :)
Got this one(well it's not clear if comments are tied to each question. They seem to be linked to multiple) and a similar one wrong on the mobile app.
I'm presented with a selection of Chinese characters to use, but two of them have not been taught, I get audio pronounciation when I tap them(although I agree audio and pinyin for the answer would be nice, can I even find my wrong answers or favourite/bookmark ones I want to review?). No English hint/tooltip like when given Chinese text to convert to english(can tap a character for English meaning per character or it shows English word for combination of characters where appropriate).
There are symbols missing in the text (for calling, it is missing) so the lessons cannot be completed. Also: it is important to give the signification of every symbol and also a correct explanation of the sentence: how it is constructed in Chinese. The pronounciation is different from real chinese people, how is that possible
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THE SYMBOL FOR JIAO IS MISSING IN THIS QUESTION AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT ELSE IT COULD BE. RATHER THAN JUST ASKING THE SAME QUESTION REPEATEDLY WITHOUT ANY HINTS OF HOW TO PROCEED, DUOLINGO JUST REPEATS THE QUESTION. MORE KNOWLEDGE IS NEEDED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION CORRECTLY. THIS IS A WEAKNESS IN THE DUOLINGO SYSTEM OF TEACHING.
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Oh THANK YOU!!! This totally helped me get past this question!!! (The system wouldn't allow me to go on, unless I gave the right answer but the solution they gave as correct had the 叫 in it which was not an option to choose from).
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You're most welcome. If you encounter trouble in the future, try reading through the discussion thread. It is admittedly not free from spam and not 100% accurate, but usually more than sufficient for the purposes of passing. :)
For the same reason that you can ask, in English:
- What is your name?
- Your name is what?
- What are you called?
- What do they call you?
- What are you called?
- How should I address you?
Yes, the second is generally considered terrible English, but often used in the form "And your name is …?" where the ellipsis (here, pause) replaces actually saying "what" :o)
And in French:
- Quel est ton nom? [ kinda brusque ]
- Comment t'appelles-tu? [ How do you call yourself? ]
…and so on.
Duo seems to accept:
- 你叫什么?
- 你叫什么名字?
- 你的名字是什么?
which are literally
- You (are) called what?
- You (are) called what name?
- Your name is what?
There's another version which asks only for "family name", which uses 姓 instead of 叫, and doesn't get the 名字 on the end. I'm guessing here, but it seems like that's because 姓 already includes the concept of "name". We ask "What is your name?" not "What name is your name?".
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I had the same problem, but found the answer in KX3's reponse: It could be because another way of asking the question is expected: 你的名字是什么? When I had 'm in that order, it was approved. Pfew!
There is no way to infer the correct order of words from the lesson itself nor is it ever covered, so you are left to smash your head against a brick wall constantly getting it wrong until you finally break through - and even then you don't have an understanding of why it works when following the literal ordering of words when pressing the words themselves does not. This is an objectivly terrible way to structure a language course and deeply counterintuitive.
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The first is more polite. I'd say they're both informal. When meeting someone for the first time, the former is preferred, but 请问你叫什么名字 or adding a 嗨,你好 in front, for example, would be much better.
Something has troubled me this time, and has been occurring somewhat frequently with my recent Chinese lessons. On many questions, one or more of the dictionary hints have only shown characters that are not options for selecting; and not showing which character, of the available options, they want you to choose. I have checked the surrounding words to see if the answer is somewhere in those dictionary hints, but they still are not there. It's confusing and discouraging, please fix.
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I'm not sure about the dictionary hints, but, as seems to be the case, the meaning(s) given are often for individual characters and not the "word" or phrase they form, which may be one reason for the inaccuracy. If you pick up any 词典 (ci2 dian3) or an online form, you will notice that one character, itself having perhaps several meanings, gains even more when 'joined' with different characters to form new 'two-character', 'four-character words'. When translated to English e.g. in an Chinese-English dictionary, it becomes, usually, even more apparent.
It is rather confusing at the first attempt, but other than writing it down so you learn and remember it for the next time you see it, you can also google search the word, e.g. by searching ”(character(s))+ 意义 " . This is not the most accurate method, by far, but it is sufficient for duolingo.
So, why is it that when I choose the options in the drop down menu of each word provided by Duolingo, Duolingo still says I'm wrong? Duolingo confuses me that way!
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That'd be "You are called 'name'" or "Your name is 'name'", literally. 你叫什么 or 你叫什么名字 are both fine, although the latter is more polite and appropriate for asking someone you meet for the first time.
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Difficult to learn before learning what word each symbol represents....am I missing something here?
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I have a question. For as far as I understand you can use both 叫 and 叫名字 as a construction to say 'to be called' or '[possessive pronoun] name is'. So why can't you use the second one in a question because 你叫名字什么?is not correct?
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叫 literally means "call" or "called," and 叫<名字> literally means "call " or "called ."
As description words for nouns typically go before the nouns, instead of 名字什么 ("name what"), 什么名字 ("what name") is used for asking names.
Interestingly, there's another usage of 什么 that's similar to "whatever" and has the effect of "so on." Ex. 名字什么的,都难。 ("Names and whatever - [they're] all difficult.")
In this specific exercise, I think it's important to stress that míngzì means first name, and so the translation should be: "Hello! What is your first name?"
And I agree that a pronunciation of the correct answer is crucial.
By and large, many things can and should be borrowed from HelloChinese haha things as writing down the characters and pinyin for beginners.
Otherwise - a great course ^^
To illustrate:
"What is the point of "ming zi" at the end if, left out, the translation is still coherent?"
The two versions here are (roughly) "you are called what name?" and "you are called what?" (not fluent English, I know, just trying to match the structure). In Chinese, either form is acceptable. In English it doesn't work quite so well, but think of, say, "what name do you go by?" vs "what do you go by?", or "what name do people call you?" vs "what do people call you?" (which are also quite good literal translations of 叫).
Sometimes there are multiple ways to say a thing, and Duo will try to teach you more than one of them :)