"I hope you and your wife can come together."
Translation:希望你能跟妻子一起来。
10 Comments
Is there a difference between 能 and 会 that makes this one have to use 能 to say "can"?
Yes. 能 (neng2) refers to a physical possibility. 我能去派对 = i can go to the party --- I have the option of going. 会 (hui4) refers to a learned ability. 我会说中文 = i can speak chinese --- I have learned how to speak chinese. (My mnemonic is that HUI sounds a bit like HOW: 我会做... = I know HOW to do...
I may have worded my question poorly. I understand why 跟 is correct. I don't understand why the same sentence, but instead using 和, is incorrect. Or maybe it should also be accepted?
553
I have some personal preference but I think they are not rules. I would say 和 and 跟 are pretty interchangeable.
我希望你和你妻子一起来
我希望你跟你妻子一起来
have no difference.
However there is the word Can in this sentence. There is a grammatical difference between 和 and 跟 as 和 is a conjunction while 跟 works like an auxiliary verb (the meaning is "follow", or more conceptually "team up with", "group up with"). This would require different grammatical syntaxes in the sentence, which are:
我希望你和你妻子能一起来
我希望你能跟你妻子一起来
(我希望你跟你妻子能一起来 is also viable but focusing on whether the listener can come together with his wife or they have to come separately.)
It would seem pedantic to some people, but I think these are the correct ways to say if anyone would like to sound perfectly natural.
Not a native, but wouldn't there be a 我? Also, would 我希望你跟妻子能一起来 be correct?
- 553
我 can be omitted.
Actually I would expect one more 你 before 妻子 to become natural.
