"老师姓什么？"
Translation:What is the teacher's last name?
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Dont foget thr apostrophe on teacher's or you will have to do it over. How stupid
1289
Apostrophe = posession No apostropne = plural
There is a big difference in meaning so it is important.
- 1289
Posting reformatted what i wrote. So:
Apostrophe = possession
No apostrophe = plural
If you don't know when to use an apostrophe, you should probably take the English course before the Chinese course.
Yeah true.. I kinda fail that one, I suddenly can't write english. The thing about learning language is your brain is kind a messed up. Especially if the grammar proposition is so different.
(From a native speaker)Actually,"老" here is a symbol of reverence. ”老师“ is a single word merely meaning 'teacher' and you shouldn't construe it into two separate words. We Chinese prefer bi-character-words. Accordingly, even if “师” does mean 'teacher' by itself, we still choose “老师“ in a usual conversation. Likewise, we have words like “老虎” meaning 'tiger' and “老鹰” meaning 'eagle' in which “老“ conveys nothing.
Your comment made me realize the lessons are titled Chinese and not Chinese Simplified or more specifically Mandarin Simplified since Cantonese & many others are "Chinese" but not mutually intelligible
- 1137
Great question! Not stupid at all because no one else has asked it in this thread.
The answer is not possible. The particle 吗 (ma) is used to form yes/no questions by adding it to the end of a statement (can be both positive or negative).
- 老师姓王吗？ Is the teacher surnamed Wang?
- 老师不是姓王吗？ Isn't the teacher surnamed Wang?
The question here is a query (meaning you need to provide some information, not just yes/no). The particle 呢 (ne) can be added to the end. If there is another question word in the sentence, 呢 can be omitted.
- 你呢？ What about you?
- 老师姓什么(呢)？ What is the teacher surnamed?
- 老师是谁(呢)？ Who is the teacher?
So, Is this Lao(老) the same Lao in Lao Tzu(Zi)? Meaning Lao Tzu(Zi) means Master Teacher?
It is indeed the same, but 老 actually translates to "old". Hence, Laozi (老子）actually means "Old Master".
"姓" is a verb, so "What is the teacher surnamed?" should be accepted. "姓" equivalent to "is surnamed" is accepted in other sentences, but not here.
Is the possessive always implied in a sentence like this? Aka, would 老师的姓什么 be correct, or is the 的 just not necessary?
- 1137
Either use 姓xìng as a verb or a noun. (Bold below are verbs of the sentences)
As a noun: 老师的姓是什么？ (Sounds a bit awkward but still OK)
As a verb: 老师姓什么？
Can yoy u please mark it as typo or somethong : - ; but thanks for reminding me anyway
- 1137
Literally "ten persons," derived meaning is "ten," "ten things," "a group of things."
You cannot separate the word. 什么 is one word which means "what."
Come on Duo… calling me out for a freaking apostrophe? I wrote this on my phone—obviously it's a typo!
No. Because this is not a Yes/No question.
什么 (I.e. What) is already the question word. So putting 吗 at the end won't make sense. It's like saying "Is what is the teacher's last name?"
Hope this helps.
In Chinese 姓 (surname or family name) is the FIRST name not the last name. Why can't Duo get this simple thing right?
- 1046
What is wrong with: "The teacher's name is what?"
I try to translate with the same Chinese structure so I can remember how to use it when going the other way, but Duo doesn't seem to like English done that way.