"The bathroom is behind them."
Translation:洗手间在他们的后面。
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No alternatives to 洗手间! There are so many synonyms and euphemisms for 'toilet' in every language it is clearly impossible to cover them all, but we really need more than 'hand wash room'. This is to my mind too euphemistic.
Suggestions for inclusion:
厕所 Cè Suǒ (Toilet)
卫生间 Wèi Shēng Jiān ('bathroom' or lit. 'Hygiene Room')
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I'm assuming you'd use a certain word for a certain situation (i.e. if you're talking about a public restroom instead of a bathroom in a house, etc.). If anyone knows if this is true, and which word goes with which situation, please let me know
If I remember correctly, 洗手间 is the common way to say bathroom (in Beijing anyway. For instance, this was written on the bathroom sign in my school building) and 卫生间 is more formal/proper. I never heard (or noticed!) anyone say 厕所.
- 259
They are both valid answers. 后面 (hòumiān) and 后边 (hòubiān) are actual synonyms for behind. This is the same with 前面 (qiánmiān) 前边 (qiánbiān) which both mean front and in front of
instead of thinking of it as "behind them" think of it as "at their rear"
The bathroom (洗手间) is at (在) their (他们的) rear (后面) .
他们的 indicates possession. It's weird to think of the location "behind them" as being in "their" possession but that's how we actually talk about places in English all the time. Think "The wheelhouse is at the ship's rear." We use the possessive apostrophe-S to indicate that the location belongs to the ship. Hope that makes sense.
- 1505
"洗手间在她们的后面" was marked as wrong. Reported, but... does anyone know if there's a grammar or culture reason why the feminine "她“ would be no good for translating "them". “她们” =~ "those women" = "them", right?
Hey, does anybody know whether it's right solution to write this way '他们的后面是洗手间‘ ?
- 1505
No. Definitely not. I'm no expert, but I know that "是" is not for position. It's really only for "This is a that" type sentences, not "Thing is this place". If you're talking place, you need "在" or something like it for your verb.
Couldn't comment on the word order, but the verb for sure needs to be a positional one.
You could say 他们的后面有洗手间. That changes the meaning to "There is a bathroom behind them."
it's grammatically right, but wierd. You can use that when someone ask What's behind them?
的 is used to show possession, right? Why was it used to connect the object (他们) with the location (后面)?
This confused me at first, too. Instead of thinking of it as "behind them" think of it as "at their rear"
The bathroom (洗手间) is at (在) their (他们的) rear (后面) .
他们的 indicates possession. It's weird to think of the location "behind them" as being in "their" possession but that's how we actually talk about places in English all the time. Think "The wheelhouse is at the ship's rear." We use the possessive apostrophe-S to indicate that the location belongs to the ship. Hope that makes sense.