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5.1: Numbers (模块一: 数字)

  • Page ID
    33175
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    Scenario 1.1

    Li Ming and An Dawei exchange their cell phone numbers.

    LM:

    AD:

    LM:

    大为,你的手机号码是多少?

    我的是130-7417-8495。 你的呢?

    我的是136-2266-5188。

    手机

    shǒujī

    cell phone

    号码

    hàomǎ

    number

    多少

    duōshǎo

    how many, how much

    ne

    (particle)

    Note:

    多少 is a question word, which means “how many/how much.” In English, “what” is usually used to inquire about numbers, such as phone numbers, room numbers, etc, such as “What is your cell phone number”? But in Chinese, people usually use 多少 to generate the question, 你的手机号码是多少,which literally means “Your cell phone number is how much?”

    Number “0” is pronounced “líng.” Number “1” sometimes can be pronounced as “yāo” in phone numbers.

    Phone Number To read a phone number in Chinese, you will read the digits of the phone number one by one. For example,

    136-2266-5188 is pronounced “yāo sān liù, èr èr liù liù, wǔ yāo bā bā.”

    Scenario 1.2

    Li Ming asks An Dawei how many siblings he has.

    LM:

    AD:

    LM:

    大为,你有几个哥哥?

    我有一个。你呢?

    我没有哥哥,可是有一个姐姐。

    没有

    méiyǒu

    don’t have

    可是

    kěshì

    but

    姐姐

    jiějiě

    older sister

    Scenario 1.3

    Li Ming asks An Dawei how many students are in his Chinese class.

    LM:

    AD:

    大为,你的中文课有多少(个)学生?

    十五个。八个男生,七个女生。

    中文

    zhōngwén

    Chinese language

    class, course

    学生

    xuéshēng

    student

    男生

    nánshēng

    male student

    女生

    nǚshēng

    female student

    Note:

    几/多少Both几 and多少 mean “how many, how much.” 几, usually followed by a measure word, is used when the number is expected to be under 10; 多少 is used when the number is expected to be 10 or more, and the measure word after 多少can be omitted.

    没有 is the negative form of 有. It means “don’t have.” Note 不有 is an incorrect expression in Chinese. Note also that no measure word is needed in the negative.


    This page titled 5.1: Numbers (模块一: 数字) is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lin Hong (洪琳).

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