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- "饭馆在那儿吗？"
"饭馆在那儿吗？"
Translation:Is the restaurant there?
50 Comments
They don't sound the same. ""那儿" has a retroflex "R" sound on the end. "那" on its own doesn't.
But in conversation, context is another clue to what's being said.
(If you mean "那儿" and "哪儿" sound the same, they don't either, because of the tones.)
It sounds better as "over there", because "there" by itself can be confused with 有 in English.
In English, the translation "Is the restaurant there?" might sound like the speaker is asking if the restaurant exists.
I translated it as "Where is the restaurant?" And I am still not sure if I am wrong and why.
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If you replaced 那 (nà) with 哪 (nǎ), and removed the yes/no question particle 吗, it would mean "where is the restaurant?". Very similar character and pronunciation makes it confusing at first, I made the same mistake.
But 吗 should tip you off anyway since "where is the restaurant?" isn't a yes/no question.
Yes, always. If you want a more detailed answer you can use 呢 ('ne') : "饭馆在那儿呢？" meaning 'then' or 'so', i.e. : "Is the restaurant over there, then?" or "So, is the restaurant over there?". If you want to ask "where is the restaurant?", you would write: "饭馆在哪儿" (northern dialects) or "饭馆在哪里" (southern dialects). In this case, you would use: 哪儿/哪里 (where?) instead of 那儿/那里 (that, those).
Yes, "吗" always signifies a yes/no question. However, your "呢" example is wrong.
Here's how "呢" is used:
《呢》
To soften a question or impart a quizzical tone:
- 饭馆在哪儿呢？Where is the restaurant, then? (You need a question word, "那儿" or "哪里", not "那儿" as in your example.)
To ask where something is (by implication):
- 饭馆呢？The restaurant, then?
To indicate an action in progress:
- 我（正）（在）吃饭呢。I'm in the middle of eating.
And here's another particle to consider:
《吧》
What I think you might be looking for is the suggestion particle "吧":
- 饭馆在那儿（，是）吧。The restaurant is over there, I guess. (This is an implied question.)
no, not always. you will not get a 'yes' to that question, but a 'go this way direction'.
Thank you so much for this, I wish Duo would point these things out in the tip sections or in these types of exercises.
Ye-e, you are right when you are talking about Chinese, but this translation into English. In English, the questioning phrase about a location should begin from "Is there" and finished with "here", "there" or "over there' to specify a particular location
"Is there a restaurant?" doesn't work. I don't know why "is the restaurant there?" should work instead. Enlighten me.
Why isn't "Is the restaurant OVER there" correct? That's one of the translations when you hover over '那儿'.
Can't 饭馆 be translated to a lot of things besides restaurant? Such as cafe, cafeteria, diner, or eatery.
饭馆是出售饭菜供人食用的店铺。也叫饭铺、饭店，古时候称为客栈，旅馆。总之，就是在家外面，可以让人吃饭的地方。 why cant i say where is the hotel
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I think the translation on some of the answers are incorrect. We don't say: "Is the restaurant there?" (for 那), we would just say where is the restaurant in English - some inaccuracies I would say, leading to wrong calculation of points/marks.
I will have to dissagree. "Where is the restaurant?" and "Is the restaurant (over) there?" have completely different meanings. The latter being you think you know where it is, but ask to verify.
no, yesterday the building just disappeared off the face of earth all of a sudden
Haha. You seem to answer all Yes / No questions with a No by default. 你的名字叫 learninghuman 吗? :-)
How am I seeing 那儿 used for both "there" and "over there"? Is it interchangeable in Chinese? And if it is, why is my translation not interchangeable?
Are you asking whether "那儿" is interchangeable with itself in Chinese?
You should be able to translate it to whatever's appropriate in English. You can try reporting "over there" as a correct answer here if it's not accepted. I don't think it makes a lot of difference in this sentence.
And when you gave the correct answer it was accepted, hopefully. That's great.
Because native English speakers would interpret that word order to mean something like "Does the restaurant exist" (though it would be an unusual way to phrase it), but we want something that means "Is the restaurant at that location".
Living dangerously! Sometimes I add extra words to see if it takes the translation. "Is the restaurant OVER there?" Accepted on 6/3/2020 :)
Is the restaurant there? ^ over
When the sentence sometimes has translation error...
From when i listened to the strange song in Tom and Jerry : " is you is my babe", i feel like i must write "is the restaurant is there ?", although i know it is wrong
I said is the restaurant here And I was wrong it said I should be right
那个 does not mean "here". So Duo was correct in marking you wrong.
Any other question?
@Canary - that's okay. Lot of things don't make sense till they are looked at in the right way. e.g. to a lot of people, your comment may not make sense. Particularly if they start wondering how can a sentence make anything anyway? We are supposed to make sentences. (Intended humour is apologised for in advance :-)
@Darian - No. You need to revisit the basics. 1) When a question ends in 吗 it is a Yes / No question. 2) 那 means "there", 哪 means "where". So "Where is the restaurant" would be "饭馆在哪儿"
Is the restaurant there? God, this is some proper Chinglish. Native English speakers would use completely different form. I feel like Im gonna turn into native Chinglish speaket soon
@Adam - completely different "form"? Is that a Swedinglish form we have to fill to avoid listening to your rants?
