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- "Where do we go for dinner?"
"Where do we go for dinner?"
Translation:我们到哪儿吃晚饭？
25 Comments
So is this literally "we to where eat dinner?"? So far I only know 到 from the "from ... to" construction.
970
The ' 到 ' character also appeared in a previous lesson for getting directions. My understanding is that it also means "to go to" or "to get to". In the 从..到 construction, it's like saying from 7 and going to 9.
https://www.duolingo.com/skill/zs/Location-3/tips https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/25275082
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E5%88%B0
- 673
What happen if instead of 到 we use 去, will it sounds weird ? is it incorrect? Is there any reason you should use it or because of the region?
我们在哪儿吃晚饭？Not literally "go for dinner" but should be a perfectly acceptable translation
Hmmm. Years ago I was taught the way to say "to go to" (someplace) was "to (someplace) go". E.g. 你到哪儿去? = "To where are you going?", i.e. in regular English "where are you going?".
But I tried several sentences about going to places using Google translate, and they all came back with just ”去” functioning by itself as ”go to”, rather than as the "go" element in a "to .. somewhere... go" ("到 ... somewhere... 去") construction.
I use Google translate and reverse the translation to be sure it means what I think it means. However Google translate has limitations for teaching language. Look for the community tick next to translation to have more confidence in the translation given. It really works on frequency of requests to translate and usually gives the simplest and not necessarily most accurate translation
回 literally means "return" or "come back". You don't "return" to where you're from when you're looking for a place to have dinner, you "go out" of your place to look for somewhere to eat
- 970
The verb for "to go" is 到.
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E5%88%B0
Even though "go" does not appear in the given sentence, the translation either with or without 去 before 吃晚饭 is correct.
You just need a verb between subject and location. Could be 在 （at, in), 去（go), 到 (arrive). 都可以！
- 331
Oh I see, then that would mean "Where do we go/arrive for dinner?"
But without the 到 it would still make sense and mean:
"Where do we eat dinner?"
Is that right?
Yes but then you would still need 在, you can’t just say ”我们哪儿吃晚饭”。I think the difference between those verbs is subtle and it’s more to do with Chinese speaking habits rather than a literal word by word translation.
The zai is used to describe a place and isn't generally used as a verb. So it would translate more closely to 'where are we eating' (or literally we are where eat dinner) rather than 'where are we going to eat'. I don't agree with using dao and was taught to use qu instead.
