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- "这个人是谁？"
"这个人是谁？"
Translation:Who is this person?
42 Comments
I don't think they're asking about 个. I think they're asking about 这.
458
Not exactly: the former means "who is this?" and the latter means "who is this person?" because the latter indicates "人". In some contexts, e.g., when the question is clearly asking about a person, yes, those questions are the same, but, if a child is introducing you to a pet cat or a puppet for example, the former question would be more appropriate than the latter.
If the DuoLingo app does not accept the former, maybe it's because one of the points of this lesson is to understand how 个 and 人 function.
No. Your phrase may imply the "who", however it doesn't work that in Chinese. 《什么人是这儿的？》doesn't make sense. You'd have to stick to the subject+verb+object order and use 谁 (when inquiring about a person)
What's the difference between saying:"who is this person?" "And who are this persons?" ?
这个人是谁 its for both?
- 458
In English, a demonstrative determiner agrees in number with its referent, that is, with the word it introduces. The plural of "this" is "these," and the plural of "that" is "those:"
- I like that song. ("that" is a singular demonstrative determiner)
- I like those songs. ("those" is a plural demonstrative determiner)
or, in the case of this question, the relevant verb also agrees in number with the referent, but the interrogative pronoun ("who") remains the same in both singular and plural:
- Who is this person? (singular)
- Who are these people? (plural)
In Chinese, 这个人是谁? means "Who is this person?" To specify "Who are these people?" you could change 个 to 些, but keep 人, 是, and 谁 unchanged:
这些人是谁？
This pattern differs from English, in which "is" would have to become "are," "person" would have to become "people," and there is no "numerary adjunct" (个 or 些) at all, but in a way, "this," 这个, becomes "these," 这些. I believe you could also append the suffix 们 to emphasize the plurality of 人: 这些人们是谁? but I am not sure that adding 们 is necessary.
In modern English, the plural form of "person" is "people," rather than "persons," except in certain technical or legal applications. Without any context, as in the case of this exercise question, my natural, overwhelming inclination would be to ask "Who are these people?" rather than "Who are these persons?" but again, I think the best translation of this exercise question is the singular, "Who is this person?"
In modern English, there is sometimes a subtle or technical distinction between "persons" and "people" (generally, we say "people" rather than "persons" unless we are specifically drawing the distinction or using "persons" in its technical, e.g., legal, context).
For instance, "person" is sometimes used in referring to someone's body or to the items the person is presently carrying, often used with "on:" "The suspect had no drugs on his person," meaning, the person was not in possession of any drugs. So, in the plural, I suppose you could say, "The people had no drugs on their persons," but notice that the first plural is "people" rather than "persons." Generally, I would avoid using "persons" unless I knew that the technical (e.g., legal or medical) sense of the word was called for. Certainly, you should always use "people" rather than "persons" to refer to people generally, or as organizations, e.g., in all of these examples, "people" is correct, and "persons" would be incorrect:
- The people have spoken.
- The People's Republic of Cork.
- The people will elect a new President in 2020.
- Why can't people just relax and be cool?
I do not know how or even whether Chinese makes this same distinction; so, I am sorry I cannot help with specifying "persons" as opposed to the general "people" in Chinese.
"who are this persons" is not correct English, so nobody ever says it like that. You would need to say "who are these people" and then I think your translation would be correct.
Historically, it was commonly held that "persons" was the plural of "person", while "people" was a generic plural. So, you could say "all people are welcome" or "we invited six persons".
Usage has changed in the past century, and while legal convention is conservative in its use of these words, most style guides today prefer the word "people" over "persons" always.
In short, "persons" is correct, but quickly becoming archaic usage.
There are a couple of cases perhaps worth mentioning where these words really aren't interchangeable:
As a collective noun, always use "people" (e.g., " the Chinese people").
When using "person" to refer to a body (e.g., "he had it on his person"), "persons" is the preferred plural.
It's misleading to suggest that persons is correct. As you note this is an archaic usage which is still occasionally heard only in specific legal contexts. To use persons outside of that context is definitely not standard English and most speakers will think of it is an error. Learners of English should not use persons (unless they're using correctly it in a specific legal context).
For anyone having trouble understanding "This" and "That" in chinese I recommend going on YouTube and search up Learn Mandarin: The basic Mandarin toolkit (Fluenz Channel). She does a great job in explaining the two "This" and "That". She also demonstrate on how to say it in a sentence.
Your welcome
Could you use this sentence in a situation like, if you didn't recognize someone's phone number when they call you?
I wrote "whos this guy" why am i wrong its right. And according to google translate, when i reccord 这个人是谁 i translates back "whos this guy." Try it, my friends.
There's too much ambiguity with "guy", because in some English, it only refers to men. 人 indicates a person, but not a gender. 男人 would be "man", and 女人 would be "woman". There's a lot of slang for dude/guy like 老铁, 哥们儿, 兄弟, but it's best to learn things properly before using slang.
not really. 《这 》refers to "this" while 《那》 means "that". there's a difference in the subject's relative location.
Why is "[这个]人是谁?" wrong that is what I have 这个 but I think it is asking for 这 and 个 separate. Which are also selectable.
- 404
This man is -they did not accept. They corrected me - this person. They are making fun of us. Grrr
"Who's this guy" is quite informal / casual and could be interpreted as rude in some circumstances. Don't use the term "guy" unless you're sure of the context and know what you're doing!
