9.2: Existence and location

Places

fànguăn tǐyùguǎn túshūguăn lǚguǎn food-hall PE-hall map-book-hall travel-bldg restaurant gymnasium library hotel; hostel shūdiàn shāngdiàn fàndiàn xǐshǒujiān book-shop trade-shop food-shop wash-hands-room bookstore shop; store hotel lavatory cèsuǒ zhāodàisuǒ bàngōngshì yínháng lean-place reception-place do-work-room silver-comp. toilet; WC guest house office bank dìtiě huǒchēzhàn sùshè cāntīng ground-iron train-station lodge-inn food-hall underground train train station dormitory cafeteria

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Notes

a) Several generic words for various kinds of buildings or rooms are to be found in last position in a number of these compounds: jiān; guǎn; suǒ; shì; diàn; etc. Because these forms only occur in compounds (at least in modern Mandarin), it is difficult to give them distinct meanings, so the [syllable] glosses provided above are only suggestive.

b) Cèsuŏ (‘leaning-place’) is the standard word for ‘toilet’, and is often found on signs; xǐshǒujiān ‘wash-hands-room’ is the term commonly used in public buildings and hotels. (Cf. §4.2.4.)

c) In spoken language, fànguăn is often generic for restaurants, along with cānguăn and càiguǎn (neither with the ‘r’ option). Dining halls or cafeterias at universities or businesses are often called cāntīng. However, other terms, including several that contain the word jiǔ ‘wine’, also appear in restaurant names. These include fànzhuāng ‘food-place+of+business’ [large restaurants], and jiǔjiā ‘wine-house’ and jiǔlóu ‘wine-building’ [the last two common in Hong Kong]. Words for hotel also vary. Lǚguǎn is generic for small, local hotels. Kèzhàn (‘guest-shelter’) is used for inns in picturesque regions such as Lijiang in northwest Yunnan. Large hotels of the sort deemed suitable for foreigners are often referred to as fàndiàn (which, as the name suggests, were originally known for their fancy restaurants). Chinese government offices, universities, and even businesses often have at their disposal zhāodàisuǒ ‘hostels (reception-places)’, with basic amenities, for official (non-paying) or other (paying) guests.

Locations

Earlier, in §2.7.3, you encountered a number of position words, like shàng ‘on’ and lǐ ‘in’, that could be attached to nouns to form location phrases to follow zài ‘be at’: zài fēijī shàng ‘aboard the airplane’, zài sùshè lǐ ‘in the dormitory’.

When position words are used alone (directly after zài), with no reference noun, they have to appear in more substantial form, with suffixes miàn ‘face; facet’, biān ‘border; side’ or (more colloquially) tou (which, in its toned form, tóu, means ‘head’): zài fēijī shàng ‘on the airplane’, but zài shàngmian, zài shàngbian, or zài shàngtou, all ‘on top; above; on board’. The choice of the two-syllable position word is not ruled out by the presence of a reference noun. Rhythmic considerations play a role, with a singlesyllable noun being more likely to attract a single-syllable position word; thus, jiā lǐ ‘in the house’ rather than jiā lǐtou, and shān shàng ‘on the hill’ rather than shān shàngtou. But that is a tendancy rather than a hard and fast rule.

The repertoire of position words together with their possible suffixes is presented in the following table:

Position nouns

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Notes

a) Though dǐxia is more common than xiàmian and the other xià-combinations, this may be a product of the slight difference in meaning between xià ‘below’ or ‘lower’ and dǐxia ‘underneath’; thus, shān xià ‘at the foot of the mountains’ but chēzi dǐxia ‘underneath the car’.

b) While lǐ and its compounds are used for ‘in; inside’, nèi (with no compound forms) usually has a more abstract sense of ‘within’: guónèi ‘within the country’ (versus guówài); shìnèi ‘in town’ (versus shìwài).

c) Biānr, untoned in most combinations, is fully toned in pángbiānr ‘next to’ d) Zhōngxīn, literally ‘center (middle-heart)’, eg shì zhōngxīn ‘the town center’, xuésheng zhōngxīn ‘student center’.

To begin with, you can focus on some combinations of noun and position noun that are particularly common. Here are some examples, along with some other phrases that can act as locations (after zài):

lóushàng lóuxià shānshàng shísìhào lóu lǐ fùjin bldg upper bldg-below mtn-on 14 number bldg attach-near upstairs downstairs on the mtn in building #14 in the vicinity

chénglǐ chéngwài gébì city-inside city-outside separate-wall in town out of town next door

Existence versus location

As noted in Unit 2 (update reference), the verb yǒu indicates existence, as well as possession. Existential sentences (‘there is/are’) in Chinese have the order: Location – yǒu – item.

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Note that although zài is not usually present, the type of phase that can constitute locations in this pattern are the same as those that typically follow zài, ie places (Běijīng), position words (qiántou, zuǒbianr) or combinations of noun and position words (jiā lǐ, shì zhōngxīn):

Shànghăi yǒu dìtiě, kĕshi Nánjīng méiyou. There’s a metro in Shanghai, but not in Nanjing.

Zuǒbianr yǒu yí ge diànhuà. There’s a phone on the left.

Huŏchēzhàn zài shì zhōngxīn ma? Is the train station in the town center?

Fùjin yǒu liăng ge huŏchēzhàn: yí ge zài shì zhōngxīn, yí ge zài chéngwài. There are 2 stations in the vicinity: one’s in town, one’s out of town.

In many cases, a question about existence will elicit a response about location. Location, as noted earlier, is conveyed by a pattern built around zài, with the thing to be located mentioned before the position noun: zài chéngwài ‘out of town’.

item zài location 

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Usage

Zhèr yǒu xǐshǒujiān ma? Is there a ‘lavatory’ here?

Yǒu, xǐshǒujiān zài hòutou. Yes [there is]; the lavatory’s in the back.

Qĭngwèn, yǒu méiyou cāntīng? Is there a cafeteria?

Yǒu, zài gébì. Yes, there is, [it]’s next door.

Wèi lăoshī de bàngōngshì ne? And [where’s] Prof. Wei’s office?

Zài lóushàng. Upstairs.

Zhèr fùjin yǒu fànguănr ma? Are there any restaurants around here?

Yǒu, lí zhèr bù yuăn. There are, not far away.

Qĭngwèn, dìtiě zài nǎlǐ? May I ask where the Metro is, please?

Dìtiě ne, dìtiě zài qiánmian – bù yuăn. The Metro, the Metro’s ahead – not far.

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Zhèr fùjin yǒu cèsuŏ ma? Is there a toilet around here?

Lóuxià hăoxiàng yǒu. Seems there’s one downstairs.

Liúxuéshēng sùshè zài nǎr? Where’s the foreign student dorm?

Liúxuéshēng sùshè zài Xuéshēng Zhōngxīn pángbiānr. The foreign student dorm is next to the Student Center.

Shūdiàn zài nǎr? Where’s the bookshop? Shūdiàn dōu zài chéng lĭ. The bookshops are all in town.

Qĭngwèn, diànhuà zài nǎr? May I ask where the phone is?

Diànhuà ne, diànhuà zài nàr, zài zuǒbiānr. The phone’s over there – on the left.

Note

Liúxuéshēng, literally ‘remain-students’, are students studying abroad (‘overseas students’). At Chinese universities, they are frequently placed in a single dormitory or dormitory complex, often with better facilities.

Comfort stations

Traditionally, as expected from a society where the majority of people have been farmers and human waste has been an important fertilizer, Chinese have generally been less prone to create euphemisms about the waste products of the human body and the places where they are deposited. As noted above, the most common term nowadays for the latter is cèsuǒ. However, hotels and fancy restaurants are more prone to euphemisms such as xǐshǒujiān ‘lavatory (wash-hands-room)’ or guànxǐshì ‘bathroom’; and the urban middle classes, particularly in Taiwan and overseas communities might also use huàzhuāngjiān ‘powder room (make up-room)’ or wèishēngjiān ‘(hygiene-room)’. The latter is abbreviated in house listings, such as sānshì liǎngwèi or sānfáng liǎngwèi, both ‘3 rooms, 2 bathrooms’. Examples:

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Qǐngwèn, cèsuǒ zài nǎr? Where’s the toilet, please?

Zài hòubianr de yuànzi lǐ. In the back yard.

Qǐngwèn, zhèr yǒu méiyǒu cèsuǒ? Excuse me, is there a toilet [around] here?

Cèsuǒ ne, hǎoxiàng zài lóuxià. A toilet…uhm, [I] believe it’s downstairs.

Qǐngwèn, zhèr yǒu xǐshǒujiān ma? Excuse me, is there a lavatory here?

Xuésheng Zhōngxīn yǒu. There’s one in the Student Center.

In the countryside, you are also likely to hear máofáng ‘outhouse (thatchedhouse)’. The actual item, the bowl – the commode – is mǎtǒng ‘horse-tub’or gōngtǒng ‘public-tub’. The acts are sāniào ‘to piss (release urine)’, niàoniào ‘to urinate; piss’, or more euphemistically, xiǎobiàn, literally ‘small-convenience’, which can be a noun ‘urine’ as well as a verb ‘urinate; pee’. Its larger complement is, unsurprisingly, dàbiàn N ‘excrement’ or V ‘to defecate’. The less euphemistic version is lā shǐ ‘to shit (pull shit)’. While it is interesting to know the gritty details, as a novice, you should probably limit yourself to questions about location, of the kind illustrated above; if someone needs to know ‘what kind’, then xiǎobiàn and dàbiàn are appropriate: qù xiǎobiàn, qù dàbiàn.

Born, grow up and live

In examples seen so far, zài phrases have preceded their associated verbs: zài fēijī shàng chī le. However, such is not always the case. With verbs of shifting (such as fàng ‘put’), the zài-phrase appears after the verb (as a destination). And some verbs allow both preand post-verbal position of zài-phrases. This is true of the common verbs shēng ‘be born’, zhǎng ‘grow up’ and zhù ‘live; reside’. But because the pre-verbal position has grammatical consequences that will not be properly introduced until a later unit, here we will focus on the post-verbal position, that is quite appropriate for making some introductory biographical notes:

Tā shēng zài Bĕijīng, yĕ zhǎng zài Bĕijīng, kĕshi xiànzài zhù zài Xī’ān. Wŏ shēng zài Duōlúnduō, zhǎng zài Niŭ Yuē, xiànzài zhù zài Jiùjīnshān.

She was born in Beijing and grew up in Beijing, but now she lives in Xi’an.I was born in Toronto; I grew up in NY; and now I live in SF. 

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