"李老师没有弟弟。"
Translation:Teacher Li does not have a younger brother.
49 Comments
249
Have I missed part of this lesson? Sometimes I'm getting pulled up on saying the brothers or the brother - but I haven't seen any lessons on plurals in Chinese yet. They look (and sound) so far the same.
Can someone explain to my why my answer, "Teacher Li has no little brother.", is wrong?
I'm not sure if you've received an answer yet, but in Chinese (and Japanese) nouns are always implied singular (or plural in cases where it wouldn't make sense to be singular). If you want to specify plural, you would need to add a number and appropriate counter word before the noun.
In Chinese you must specify older or younger brother and sister. 哥哥 older brother 弟弟 younger brother 姐姐 older sister 妹妹 younger sister
Your response is a positive negative "has no" which doesnt translate well in Chinese. Thats probably giving Duo some problems.
Maybe you got it wrong because the brother is younger. Not little btother.
Can I say 李老师 when I am referring to an uknown gentleman, as in "Mr. li"? If not, then Duolingo will not allow "Mr." As an answer, as it specifically refers to a teacher.
Besides, why are chinese people using Duolingo to learn Chinese?
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English Mr. (or Mrs.) can be a lot more ambiguous than 老师, but Mr(s). can definitely be used with teachers. Many English speakers might translate it as either depending on if they want to sound natural or accurate.
Phil, your answer is correct, sometimes the app just needs more time to be fime tuned for the various answers that can be given
- 249
Oh, that's fine - I realise it's still developing - I just thought I had missed something big in one of the lessons.
I understand as a native English speaker why distinctly calling this person "Teacher Li" is more correct than calling them "Mr. Li", and is more informative for learning the chinese language in this case. But nobody in the English world could say this sentence the way it is currently written and sound normal. Maybe both could be considered accurate in this case but have a note that this is only used for teachers when you show the correction/correct banner after the answer is given. Just a thought.
In western culture students usually call their teachers as Mr./Ms./Mrs., so I think it shouldn't be wrong to say Mr. Li.
In fact, since it is the shortest format, it is the preferred one in everyday usage.
不 indicates a negation through intensions and implies the future, while 没 refers to negations that are physically present and past. 不有 makes no sense, because to have is physical and present. 没有 is also an established character couple.
Also, its stranger still to say he does not intend to have a little brother in the future...
不 is never used with 有，always use 没有。 i remember it as always use mayo(naise)
No. You would need a 了 at the end or more information to determine the tense.
''Teacher Li has no younger brother'' was marked incorrect, too. As correctly it suggested ''brothers'' instead of the singular form
How do I know ( in cases like this ) whether there is one brother or more ? P.S. I know there are some mistakes in this new course, but I still like it.
I typed "Teacher Li does not have younger brother.", notice there is no "a" before "younger brother" and it got wrong. Isn't it too strict?
I don't think so. The program forgives most times if you miss a character or misspell the English. Report it next time and they might include an allowance for a missing "a" in the future. 我为你加油！
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What is the difference between the negatuon in this sentence and negation with bu?
《没》 is a negation of past actions and of the physical. 《不》 is a negation of future actions and intentions. For example, 他不喝咖啡 : He does not drink coffee (or rather does not intend to). 他没喝咖啡 : he does not drink coffee (physically, or never has in the past so it might imply he won't now). "Does not" can be ambiguous in English, 没/不 tries to provide some insight.
没 (méi) can be used to negate the verb 有 (yǒu) ("to have") to mean "do not have." You can only use 没 (méi) to convey this meaning. It is grammatically incorrect to use 不 (bù) to negate 有 (yǒu)
Mr Li should be accepted as an answer. Since when in English do we refer to a teacher as "Teacher so-and-so"?
Except there is already a term for mister: 先生 (Xiānshēng). You wouldn't want to confuse new learners.
