"请便宜一点儿。"
Translation:Please make it a bit cheaper.
60 Comments
Pronounciation of 便 is wrong. Sounds like bian, but should be pian.
Yes and no. The character on its own is pronounced bian but when spoken as the phrase "便宜", it should be pian. So in this context, youre right
The character on its own pronounced as both biàn and pián. This is so-called 多音多义字
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"Please reduce the cost a little bit" should be added as an acceptable answer.
Yes, I tried "Please make it a bit cheaper", which I think should be accepted. After all "一点儿" does mean "a bit".
You have better luck if you use the fewest words. I wrote "Please a bit cheaper", and it was marked correct.
"a bit cheaper please" is also accepted. I have given up trying to make the English sound OK. Now I just try to get my answer accepted, but it is still just guesswork a lot of the time. Of course the main thing is to understand the meaning of the Mandarin and then just try to put it in a form that Duo will accept irrespective of how it sounds to a native English speaker.
Not sure why Dejo's reply was down-voted. "Please, a bit cheaper." is an accepted answer.
Cost can be also understand as 成本 and not 價錢 price. To reduce cost, we do not say 便宜, but 減少 or 降低.
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There's no meaningful difference between "cost" and "price" in this sentence.
In this case, you must only assamble the phrase with the words presented.
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On the computer version, you have the option to type in your answer instead of using the word bank.
I agree, this is just another way of saying what is show in the translation above
That should be the correct answer because Duo doesn't address 一点儿 in their English answer.
Or "Please, cheaper." This sentence is literally just these two words strung together.
請便宜一点兒。
If you wonder where the verb is, the sentence is originally 请算便宜一点儿, but 算 is omitted. The grammar structure is very free in Chinese, as you know.
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We can also think that no verb is omitted. There is no equivalent of “be, to be” in Chinese. So linguists introduce the term “predicate (谓语)”, and in this sentence it is 便宜一点儿. The word 便宜 is called an predicative adjective which functions as “to be cheap”.
I think that this is better put by saying that a Chinese sentence requires no subject, only a topic. If one doesn't need a (filler) subject, then one can also dispense with the filler verb linking to that subject and just write "cheaper".
In other words, in a sentence like "It is raining.", one only needs the "is" because "it" must be present to fill the subject role. It's the same for "Make it cheaper."; "make" is only needed because "it" is required to create a grammatically valid sentence.
"Could you make it cheaper, please?" was rejected - is it really BIG difference between Can and Could? It seems to me that Could is even more polite - so why DL does not accept it?
What would a native English speaker say in this case? The phrases provided sound quite odd to me.
So the hint on mouseover says 便宜一点儿 means cheaper, but "cheaper please" is not accepted. Is the hint on mouseover wrong or the english translation? I understand that 一点儿 means a bit in isolation, but does it just indicate a comparative?
The translation "Cheaper, please" should be accepted because 一点儿 (yi dianr) is here effectivly a suffix meaning -er (as in bigger, smaller, cheaper).
The suggested answer by duo has question mark, "Can you make it cheaper, please?" but the question does not have question mark. Chinese sentence is not about asking to reduce price but its requesting politely to reduce the price a little.. I do not understand why "please reduce the price a little" is marked wrong
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The pronunciation sounds like qing bie yidiar…is that to get us used to how it is often said? Native chinese speakers/those who have been shopping with native speakers…have you heard it shortened like this? Or is it an audio issue?
in Chinese, there wasn't traditionally a question mark. Most people would just write the “。” instead.
Because it has the 请 word which is generally mean: please. If we put 'please' at the end of the sentence then we can add '?'
I think having 一点儿 in the sentence, "a bit" should be accepted if included in the answer. I.e. "please make it a bit cheaper".
Also, the pronunciation of 便宜 given in the audio track is definitely not standard.
Cheap - 便宜 Piányí Vs. 廉价 lián jià ：cheaply priced. In this context it is cheaply priced: 一个在烟雾缭绕的房间里的歌手，葡萄酒和廉价香水的气味。Yīgè zài yānwù liáorào de fángjiān lǐ de gēshǒu, pútáojiǔ hé liánjià xiāngshuǐ de qìwèi. ♫A singer in a smoky room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume.♫
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The answer "Can you make it cheaper" has no 你 or 你们 in it.
Where does the YOU come from?
Why is "can you, please, make it cheaper" not accepted??? Gramatically if you have the please separated by comas you can put it anywhere in the sentence!! "please, can you make it cheaper?" "can you, please, make it cheaper?" "can you make it cheaper, please?" The developers should implement something to check if the position is gramatically accepted! So frustrating!!
