- Forum >
- Topic: Chinese >
- "她有姐姐吗？"
"她有姐姐吗？"
Translation:Does she have an older sister?
74 Comments
I gave "does she have a sister", and this was marked wrong. The correct translation is apparently "does she have sisters", but on this page I see "does she have an older sister" is also correct. I don't understand why my answer was wrong.
Your answer was incorrect because 姐姐 means 'older sister,' not simply 'sister'. In Chinese, older/younger is usually differentiated when referring to relatives. For example, older brother (哥哥) and younger brother (弟弟), older female cousin (表姐) and younger female cousin (表妹), so on.
I did the same! Not sure how "does she have a sister" would be. Perhaps 她有一个姐姐吗?
1027
You can say
她有姐妹吗？
and similarly the following variations:.
她有兄弟吗？ brothers.
她有兄弟姐妹吗？ brothers and sisters.
她有一个姐姐吗? is also viable, e.g. when you see someone that looks like your friend and you ask if she has a sister.
Your answer was wrong because you said "a" instead of "an". i did the same mistake now i lost all my health and have to practice numbers
@stuped - No, it was wrong because it omitted "older". The moment you include "older"; the phrase {'a' sister} becomes {'an' older sister}.
- 1084
That's not a problem with the audio. All three are pronounced the same way, though I imagine it is frustrating for some people. I suppose when used in spoken form, there would generally be context (visual, prior conversation, etc) to differentiate them.
I guess if there were no words written, DL would’ve considered《他/她》as any of the two genders, but《她》was specifically written in the example, so I suppose you have to follow what the example directly asks for which is the “she” one.
i was told by my chinese teacher that “她“ and "他” were pronounced the same and the only way you'd know if it's referring to a boy or girl was if you read it or knew the context.
This is an audio question. 她 and 他 are the same word spoken. Without context we have no way to know which is which. Both should be right. This is about the fourth exercise I've flagged for this today.
- 605
'Does she have an elder sister?' is correct, you should report it when you next see that question :)
The answer
Does she have any older sisters?
should be accepted. Reported.
Unfortunately, "Does she have ANY older sister?" is not correct English. You can have "Does she have AN older sister?" or "Does she have any older sisterS?" but not "Does she have any older sister?"
You are right, there was a typo in my message.
Thank you for pointing that out.
- 605
Your sentence structure is correct, but you have to use the word 没 (mei) instead of 不 (bu) when you're using 有 (you). So you should say 她有没有姐姐 :)
They set us up for fails by not telling us these things so that we lose hearts.
@David - I went through this same course and the same modules. Just saying.
Why is wrong "does she HAS an older sister"? The right CORRECTION said that the verb is HAVE instead of HAS.
@Valentino - "Does she HAS an older sister?" is wrong.
It should be "Does she HAVE an older sister?"
The correction you got is therefore accurate. When you ask a question beginning with "Does", then you need to include "have", not "has". Hope this helps.
- 1027
No. For some reasons single character words are less popular in modern Chinese. Words have been formed by using 2 characters of the same meaning such as 朋友 friend. Each of 朋 and 友 alone can mean friend in older time. 姐姐 is just an example of doubling the same character. It does not carry any implication of single or plural.
- 11
The reason is that Mandarin Chinese had lost tones, resulting in more homophones, which needed a second character for clarification. Cantonese on the other hand keeps more tones and works with less syllables
姐 “jie" in itself means older sister, so whether it says 姐姐 or just 姐 it means older sister, but usually it's more natural for words to come in pairs in Chinese. 妹 "mei" is the word for younger sister, and the same things apply.
I think 姐妹 (jie3mei4) means 'sister' in general. In my two years of studying, though, I've never used it.
it says that the correct answer is Does she have an older sister? but there is only an and there is no a.
@BiSHIN - You are correct. There is no "a". The correct answer, as you rightly pointed out, is "Does she have an older sister?".
Just got clarification, if I'm using a plural form do i simply add the 一个？
- 605
I don't completely understand your question, but I'll try to help anyway :P
There is no plural form for words in Chinese, but you can specify amounts of things.
If you said ”她有一个姐姐吗？“ that would mean "Does she have one older sister?" or "Does she have an older sister?".
If you said "她有三个姐姐吗？" that would mean "Does she have three older sisters?".
And if you said "她有多个姐姐吗？" that would mean "Does she have multiple older sisters?".
I hope this answers your question, and let me know if there is anything else that's not clear :)
@Eric - in English, unlike most Asian languages, a statement cannot become a question by just adding a question mark.
That's why you have to say "Does she have an older sister?".. not "She has older sister?"
Hope this helps.
- 151
As there is no definite singular sister written in the statement, the answer should accept both singular and plural, including: Does she have older sisters?
has she an older sister? means exactly the same in english. i think this should be added to the list of correct answers!
I agree. In fact in general it is considered better English to say "has she...?" than "does she have...?"
@Eoin - No. "Has she" is used in different context, not in this one. "Has she been to China?", "Has she finished her lesson?" etc are correct sentences. But not "Has she an older sister?" That's wrong.
I am French, I would like to know why the both following sentences are not right. What is the difference if it isn't the same meaning? Has she an older sister? or Does she have an older sister?
- 605
I am a native English speaker from the UK - 'Has she an older sister?' is correct but it is very unusual in modern times. Almost everyone would say 'Does she have an older sister?'. You are more likely to read or hear 'Has she an older sister?' in a Shakespeare play :)
(As @EthanKamin mentioned, you could hear an older Irish or Scottish person using either sentence. As far as people from England go, I think 'Has she an older sister?' is unusual no matter what).
- 1027
It is a question about English. I am not native but I came across such discussion between natives. It seems that the form "Has she xxxx?" is not very popular, both in UK and in US. However I doubt if anyone would regard it as "wrong", just hardly people talk like that. Maybe someone native could comment about this to confirm.
Bon courage!
In my native dialect (US west coast, born '80s/'90s), "has she an..." is definitely ungrammatical/not used. For me, a sentence starting with "has she..." would have to be followed by a verb - the "already did something" meaning of "has", not the "possesses/exists" meaning. So yes, in my dialect, it's definitely "wrong" (I'd give someone a really weird look if they said "Has she hella sick rims?", for instance, and not because of the "hella sick" colloquialism or because of a formal/informal mixup).
Other dialects out there do use "Has she..." to mean "Does she have [possess/etc.]...", and I think that construction might be encountered more frequently in Britain. (I've heard it from some older Irish speakers, for instance)
This was a tough one. There was nothing previously learned that would have let you know this meant older sister. I wanted to go with "sisters" and thought maybe there was a mistake with "sister" missing the "s" on the end.
- 548
I translated as "Does she have older sisters" and was marked wrong. Why can it be translated as "... an older sister" or "... sisters" but not "... older sisters"?
the version of this question I got was dictation expecting me to transcribe in Chinse. I answered 他有姐姐吗 since there is no verbal indication which "ta", 他 or 她 was needed. Mine was marked wrong.
- 208
姐姐 specifically means "older sister", you would have to use 姐妹 if you were talking about sisters with no specified age.
In chinese this means sisters. As for a singular sister you have to write 1 sister (Yi ge)! So automatically this senses means plural.
I gave a translation of "Does he have an older sister?", and was told that it's "Does she". But aren't she/he were the same word?
So, is 姐姐 "older sister", "sister", "younger sister" ? Use clear sinogram ; not approximative ! We can't understand something with many meanings !
@tu - It's great that you managed to learn English which also has words with many meanings. e.g. You put 'up' with things that get brought 'up' in discussions and then sum it 'up' in the end. Whilst none of these are actually going 'up' from a direction perspective. :-)
does she has an older sister. not have. she, he, it has. i, you, they have.
In this case, no, because the question starts with ``does''.
So Duolingo's solution is correct on this account.
Uniza and Patrick - As Patrick says where you use do/ does to create a question, the main verb changes back to the infinitive form without the 'to' as Doctor Who 01 explains nicely below. However, my point was a much simpler one. Although the most common use of inversion of verb and noun/ pronoun to make a question is with the verb to be, you can (usually for stylistic reasons) do the same where the verb is to have. In those cases, the verb retains the original format. Have I? Have you? Has he/she/ it? Duolingo, however, did not recognise that option in this particular example. But I am just being pedantic.
Although I am not a native speaker and I sometimes formulate questions without do/does in some specific situations, I admit that the sentence Has she an older sister? makes me cringe.
I believe it is supposed to be "has" and not "have". Correct me if i am wrong.
In English in interrogative sentences (i. e. in questions) you usually use auxillary verbs that are conjucated, and the main verb is just a bare infinitive (i. e. without 'to'), so let's take the verb "to take"
Affirmative present simple:
I take a look. She takes a look.
Interrogative present simple:
Do I take a look. DOES she take (no 's') a look.
Affirmative past simple:
I took a look. She took a look.
Interrogative present simple:
DID I take a look. DID she take a look.
