"李老师没有弟弟。"
Translation:Teacher Li does not have a younger brother.
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540
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?
882
That is correct. Chinese language does not have plurals, at least not that kind of plurals in western languages. Example 1 - put a number : A: 你有没有兄弟? B: 有。-- does not imply number of brothers. A: 几个? B: 一个。
Example 2 - use 们 for multiple persons: 我的弟弟 -- imply one younger brother. 我的弟弟们 -- my brothers.
1764
Hi, I am Chinese and I learn this course to consolidate my Chinese-to-English translations. I think maybe I can learn some idiomatic expressions to improve my English here.
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.
《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.
882
For 没 as “not have”/“there not be”, it only for use with 有, and 有 could often be omitted.
For 没 as “not yet"/"did not", it is grammatically correct to put a 有, but it usually be omitted.
我没(有)钱 ;今天没(有)雨;他没(有)你高。
他没来;他的病还没好。
Thanks, but it's not a right example. As I know, this sentence maintains the correct linear and grammatical sense, with subject or noun, verb (in this case in negative) and predicate. A well done sentence, accepted at school and used at literature and news. What I guess is Duolingo doesn't accept the form "has not" instead of "does not have", although both are correct in English grammar. Sometimes Duolingo accepts only one of two or more correct forms that are correct in English. My question was actually a rhetorical one. Cheers.
See this link with discussion on this topic https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/he-has-not-a-pencil-or-a-pen.2448528/
Hope this helps.
I really don't know why do you think "has not" is correct grammar to denote non-possession; but it is actually wrong in my opinion.
"Has not" is employed in sentences like "He has not gone yet", better recognised as "He hasn't gone yet".
I'm really curious to know which grammar resource advises "He has not a younger brother" or "He hasn't a younger brother" is a correct sentence.
882
没:not have, there not be, not yet
不:not, be not, will not, no, negative
你有弟弟吗? ——不,我没有。
Do you have younger brothers? No I don't have one.
你是弟弟吗?——不,我不是。
Are you a younger brother? No I am not.
你去那里吗?——我不去 (I will not go there)
你去(过)那里吗?——我没去过(I have not been there yet)