"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
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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".
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
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.
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
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