"他们是我的哥哥和姐姐。"
Translation:They are my older brother and older sister.
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他們是我的哥哥和姐姐。
In Taiwan the character "和" is pronounced as "hàn" when meaning "and." Since "和" is frequently used, this difference in pronunciation can be a simple tip to tell the people from mainland China or Taiwan. By the way, unlike Japanese, Chinese characters with multiple pronunciations are in limited numbers, but "和" has 6 pronunciations -- Maybe the character with the most pronunciations in Chinese.
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The fact that there aren't many chinese characters with multiple pronunciations is awesome
I answered "they are my older brothers and sisters" and it demanded "they are my older brothers and big sisters" (sigh)
I believe it is as well correct without repeating older. "They are my older brother and sister" have the exact same meaning like "they are my older brother and big sister". Moreover big is a measuring word for size not for age.
In English (or US English at least) "big brother/sister" is universally understood to mean "older brother/sister," regardless of the siblings' actual relative size. You wouldn't use it in academic writing but in everyday speech and most written English it's totally acceptable.
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Apparently not here. As far as I know the Chinese language has a separate word for 'siblings'.
2017.11.30
In the English translation, it would be correct to say "They are my older siblings."
It would also be legit to say "They are my brother and sister." You would omit the fact that they are older, but you would not be incorrect.
But for the Chinese, there is no shorter way of saying that. You have words for "siblings = 兄弟姐妹", for "brothers = 兄弟" and for "sisters = 姐妹" - but for "older siblings" you have to say "哥哥和姐姐".
How can one distinguish the number of siblings in this sentence? I've seen "older brothers and sisters" and "older brother and sister" accepted.
2018.11.21
Apparently you have to have the number within the sentence, I've seen that in another exercise.
In this scenario, it can be anything because 他们 means that there are multiple people, no specific number. If you want to say the specific number, you would use __个 (个 is goes before numbers or the question word 几). So if you wanted to say "they are my four older brothers and three older sisters" you would say "他们是我的四个哥哥和三个妹妹." Hopefully, this helps
I put in 'They are my sister and brother' without any 'older' and it got accepted. I don't understand the difference between the characters with and without 'older'.
Sometimes Duo requires the older/younger and sometimes it doesn't when translating to English. As it is required in Mandarin I always translate them into English anyway just to remind myself of the importance of the distinction in Mandarin, even though it is often not necessary in English. It also helps me remember which is which in the Mandarin characters.
In China (and most east-Asian countries) respect towards older (specifically male) siblings is a lot more severe so it would be a term of respect. To call someone your 弟弟 when they are actually your 哥哥 would be offensive. Age is a sign of respect and status in east-Asian countries.
P.S. I'm Asian-American, I'm not assuming things.
For me it said "brothers" and "sister" but is there a different way to say the plural of brother or sister?
In this scenario, it can be anything because 他们 means that there are multiple people, no specific number. If you want to say the specific number, you would use __个 (个 is goes before numbers or the question word 几). So if you wanted to say "they are my four older brothers and three older sisters" you would say "他们是我的四个哥哥和三个妹妹." Hopefully, this helps
how will you be able to say it if the older brother/ sister are many or in plural form?
In this scenario, it can be anything because 他们 means that there are multiple people, no specific number. If you want to say the specific number, you would use __个 (个 is goes before numbers or the question word 几). So if you wanted to say "they are my four older brothers and three older sisters" you would say "他们是我的四个哥哥和三个妹妹." Hopefully, this helps
Because of worldwide sexist societies, usually, when there are approximately the same amount of people of different genders it goes to males.
