In lesson 20 we will learn how to ask if another person has any siblings, which
means we will be using the verb to have, 有 yǒu. We
will also learn how to ask if the other person has a boyfriend or girlfriend,
and also whether or not they have an English or Chinese name.
20.01 Do you have a brother or a sister? - Example sentences
Notes:
The negation for the verb 有 yǒu is 没 méi.
In Chinese some verbs use the negation 没 méi while others use 不 bù,
there is no real rule as to which verbs use which negation, so you must
simply memorize which uses which.
20.03 Do you or don't you have a brother or a sister? - Example sentences
你有没有哥哥？ Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu gēge?
Do you (or don't you) have an older brother?
你有没有妹妹？ Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu mèimei?
Do you (or don't you) have a younger sister?
你有没有弟弟？
Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu dìdi?
Do you (or don't you) have a younger brother?
你有没有姐姐？ Nǐ yǒu méi yǒu jiějie?
Do you (or don't you) have an older sister?
.
20.04 Do you have any siblings?
你... Nǐ...
...you...
你有... Nǐ yǒu...
...you have....
你有兄弟... Nǐ yǒu xiōngdì....
...you have any brothers...
你有兄弟姐妹... Nǐ yǒu xiōngdì jiěmèi ...
...you have any brothers or sisters?
你有兄弟姐妹吗？ Nǐ yǒu xiōngdì jiěmèi ma?
Do you have any brothers or sisters?
20.05 Do you have any siblings?
- Concept review dialogue
王军:
你有兄弟姐妹吗？
Nǐ yǒu xiōngdì jiěmèi ma?
同学:
我有一个妹妹。你呢？
Wǒ yǒu yí gè mèimei. Nǐ ne?
王军:
我有一个姐姐。
Wǒ yǒu yí gè jiějie.
Notes:
个 gè is the first "counter word" or "classifier" that we will learn, and it is the one most commonly used.
What is a counter word, you ask? Well, remember how we said that Chinese nouns don't change forms for singular or plural? In effect, that means
every noun in Chinese is the equivalent of a collective noun in English, such as water or rice. Just as we would say "a bottle
of water" or "a bowl of rice", we need to put a classifier in front of a Chinese noun when enumerating it.
There are numerous counter words in Chinese, but
the basic, nearly all-purpose one is 个 gè. We will be slowly learning several counter words throughout the course, and lesson 41 we will summarize the counter words that are the most commonly used.
