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- "他叫什么？"
"他叫什么？"
Translation:What is his name?
125 Comments
“What is his called?” does not equal “ What is he called?” or “What is his name?”
For many reasons. First, not all people include the possessive, de, all the time. So maybe we still understand we are yalking about hus name? Secondly, i think that maybe jiao is to be called, not necessarily the meaning name.
Right:
他 he
叫 call / to be called / is called
什么 what
He is called what? or What is he called? or "What is his name?"
Alternately,
他的 his
名字 name
是 to be / is
什么 what
His name is what? or What is his name?
他的名字是什么?
I think a better way of asking this would be “他叫什么名字?". I think this would add clarity to the question.
Earlier, this sentence was introduced to us. I think, this is shorter version. Understood type like phrase!
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This character for "ta" used to be gender neutral before a feminine one was invented. I translated as "they", I think that makes sense.
他们 / 她们 would be the plural to represent "they". 他 being singular means "he".
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Nooo, 他 is male and singular “he” never to be genderless and plural. LazyEinstein was right.
Another translation: "What is his called?" Doesn't sound like proper English to me (not a native speaker)
"What is he called?" would be more correct but "what is his name?" is the more common way to say that.
True. It should be "What is he called" or "How is he called?". It can also be, in nuances, "What is his nickname?".
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Those suggestions are not a good way to ask what someone's name is in English. To me, when someome asks that, they aren't referring to a name but rather a title. "What is he called?" "The Master". "how is he called" is just plain wrong.
Hold up! This is masculine? since when was this no longer gender neutral? I currently live in China and this goes against everything I have been taught by everyone here.
Honestly if it were gender neutral itd be a lot cooler. But thanks for clarifying, very helpful!
"What is his called?" makes no sense in english. Who ever wrote the question seems like they might be dyslexic and confused "what is he called" with "what is his name" and came up wirh this sentence which doesnt make sense. Lease fix this dualingo
My autocorrect has also served me badly here xD. With this sentence & Please fix this dualingo
I don't know if this is technically British English, but as an American, "what is his called?" sounds like asking what something he owns is called.
他叫什么名字？ ta jiao shen me ming zi ? (rough translation) What is his name ?
Would be the right translation?
"What is he called?" would be a more accurate translation, and would probably help some learners who are confused about when mingzi is or is not needed.
As most of the posts below agree: the use of the possessive pronoun, "his," forms an incorrect English usage. Pronouns used in the absence of a clear reference are misleading, so this particular translation is misleading. A native speaker would read this and wonder "his WHAT?" It could refer to a body part, a family relation, a dog, his mood, ... So how does one even know that "he" should in this case translate as "his."
Earlier, I 've learned thia from Durango but now you say this answer is wrong. I don't know what to say.
Technically, more literally, it is "what is he called" ("he," not "his"), but "what is he called" is functionally equivalent to "what is his name;" because, "his name" is, indeed, "what he is called." In Chinese, as in English, there is more than one way to ask this question, e.g., "what is he called" or "what is his name;" this this particular sentence, 他叫什么, is the former, using the verb "call" rather than the noun "name." Again, functionally, practically, it's the same question inasmuch as it's asking for the same information, but each question is phrased differently. Some of the students here do not appreciate that difference, and "report" that "what is his name" is more common than "what is he called" in English, but this course is "Chinese for English learners," so, the point is to learn the Chinese, which, in this particular sentence, is much closer to "what is he called" than "what is his name." And yes, for the benefit of people earnestly trying to learn English as well as Chinese, "what is he called" is, indeed, a perfectly legitimate English sentence. Ostensibly, Duo relented to the students who complained, and now "what is his name" is the "default" translation given at the top of this page, which too bad, as "what is he called" gives the students the opportunity to learn the actual words that generate the sentence rather than a merely equivalent translation.
As for "what is his called," yes, indeed, that translation, which used to be Duo's "default" translation, is incorrect: it should be "what is he called" rather than "what is his called."
can we please get this fixed...it is not correct and needs to be fixed...thanks
The options for the answer were incorrect. What is his called is not a right answer but was the nearest I could get and was accepted!
The question is wrong. His is a possessive pronoun with no choice in the answer list for an object to the pronoun. If it was, "What is his name?" Or "What is he called?" It would correct. Please change or throw out.
Lol. Note i typed "What is his called" and it was wrong. I deserve pie
What is his name is correct now. Good development, but it still gives the wrong answer. Reported it, the is improvement
'What is his called' is not correct English or solution. Answers 'What's his name?' 'What is his name?' 'What is he called?' 'What's he called?' Should be accepted instead as correct English solution.
I wrote "what is his name and its not eccepting it even that is the answer what can i do?
can't this be used to say "what did he say/what does he want?" in a mildly aggressive tone? i've heard my chinese friends say it and weren't referring to a name. :o
But shouldn't "她叫什么？” be accepted， too？ The 2 words sound the same, and there is no context telling us the person's gender.
In this case, we do not need the possessive, as 叫 functions as a verb ("to be called," or "to be named") here:
他 = he
叫 = is called
什么 = what?
If you wanted to use "name" as a noun rather than a verb, then, yes, you could use the possessive after 他, this way: 他的名字是什么 :
他的 = his
名字 = name
是 = is
什么 = what
A (formal) way to introduce yourself is to indicate your family name, followed by your given name; e.g., to introduce yourself as "XiaoMing Wang" you could say 我姓王叫小明 :
我 = I / my (in this case)
姓 = surname, family name
王 = Wang
叫 = called
小明 = XiaoMing
Or, to introduce yourself as "John Smith," you could say "我姓 Smith 叫 John."
Notice that we do not use the possessive particle 的 in this sentence pattern. ”我姓Smith叫John“ means "I am (of the family) 'Smith,' (I am) called 'John,'" or "My family name is 'Smith,' my given name is 'John,'" or "I am a Smith who is called John." There are good ways to translate this sentence into English using possessives, e.g., "my name is" rather than "I am called," but the possessive particle 的 is not used in this particular Chinese sentence.
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Why "Who is he?" does not work here, the word "name" does not appear in the Chinese question!
叫 means "to be named" or "to be called;" that's how "name" appears in the Chinese question: 他 / 叫 / 什么 : he / is named / what?
Instead, 他是谁 means 他/he 是/is 谁/who, or "Who is he?"
"我叫张明" is translated to "I am Zhang Ming". Drawing a parallel, shouldn't "Who is he?" be a valid translation of "她叫什么"?
LITERALLY "he called what" which in grammatically correct english should be "what is he called?"
"what is his name?" is 他的名字是什麼 (ta de mingzi shi shenme).
tho it might have similar connotation, that's a completely differenct sentence. a person's name could be Wang Ming, but if he goes by a nickname like 小王(xiao wang) or 明明 (ming ming), then it could be said 他叫小王/明明 (ta jiao xiao wang/ming ming). would you still fuxking say that's his name? no you wouldn't because that's NOT his name, that's what he's CALLED.
Why "her" instead of "his" is not accepted? 他 is gender neutral?
I don't understand this. Why is Ta Jiao Shenma, "what is his name?"
Doesn't this translate to he is what?
Isn't Ta Ming shenma
I don't understand the grammar
well thinking about it the dictionary hints are correct but... mixed order
The subject is pronounced “ta” for both “he” and “she”, but the Chinese character is different for each.
Sheesh, it was rejecting my answer just because i wasnt typing in the question mark.
You have to type "what is his name?" Exactly or it will be counted as wrong
I've typed the translation correctly, but it was considered as a wrong answer...
This flagged as incorrect What is his name? From the other comments, it seems that the missing question mark caused it to be marked as incorrect.
"What is his called" Is a wrong sentense in English. It should be "He" now "His". Also the answer "What is his name" should be accepted as in English "What is he called" is hardly used.
"What is his called" is not proper English and should not be presented as solution. I reported it as incorrect.Are there any admin people who care and actually make changes if a correction is incorrect?
Not here in the discussion, this would have to be reported as incorrect if this does not mean that someone is asking what something he owns is called.
Okay, I know I am learning Chinese using English, this just sounds wrong...do you really say in Chinese what is his called? Wouldn't say what is his name? Just curious
Broken answer, "what is his called" is not English and "what's his name" should be accepted instead.
Wrong. You do not say: what is his called. You say: what is he called. My translation was right
I translated this as "He is called what?" and got dinged. Feel like that was a reasonable translation.
I feel like when we are learning languages, and are not trying to translate for major corporations, it makes sense to translate word for word in many instances, because it gets us used to thinking in the Chinese grammar. Translating it as 'He is called what?' helps me get into the jive of Chinese grammar, and I was disappointed duoLingo didn't allow these 'unnatural' translations. I was also upset I couldn't translate "Ta shi na guo ren?" as "He is which country's person?" because I went so many years in college with this being a valid translation under all my Chinese instructors XD
Even "what is he called?" sounds a little bit unnatural to me. I can't imagine hearing anyone saying "he is called what?". Most people would say "what's his name", since that's the more respectful way to refer to a human being. When you say "what is he called", it sounds the person you're referring to is some kind of inanimate object and you're wondering what classification it falls under. For instance, I'd ask "what is a rock that has melted called?", and "what's your friend's name", but I wouldn't ask what's the name of a rock that has melted, nor would I ask what your friend is called.
"What's his name?" is the most common form, but some people don't even go by their names, and if you are looking for the nickname that people are calling him then you might ask "What is he called?" Actually, I would ask the person directly, "What do you like to be called?" So, it is good to know both forms.
"What is he called?" sounds archaic or noble, but it's not altogether unnatural. If this was an English course, trying to make us fluent in modern, everyday English, I could understand penalizing us for using "What is he called?"
But this is teaching us Chinese, so all valid translations should work. Furthermore, for a lot of people, it's a lot easier if they actually incorporate translations for all the words, ie: "called" for jiao. Clearly, "What is he called?" should be a valid answer.
Since in spanish they says "Que se llama" and "llama" means called (Also when there is 2 l's, you pronounce it as "Y")
