Learn Chinese for Free - Lesson 99

The meaning of: 你叫什么名字？

It is used by elders when they want to know the names of young people or between young people. One may also say "你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details叫character: 叫
pinyin: jiào
details什么word: 什么
pinyin: shénme
details？".

One shouldn't use it, therefore, when he wants to know an elder's name or when he needs to show respect and politeness to his hearer. Use "您character: 您
pinyin: nín
details贵character: 贵
pinyin: guì
details姓character: 姓
pinyin: xìng
details？" instead.

The meaning of: 张家和王家

家character: 家
pinyin: jiā
details after a surname indicates all the members of that family. So, we would translate 张character: 张
pinyin: zhāng
details家character: 家
pinyin: jiā
details和character: 和
pinyin: hé
details王character: 王
pinyin: wáng
details家character: 家
pinyin: jiā
details as "the Zhangs and the Wangs".

The meaning of: “您是⋯⋯”

It means "Who are you?" (literally "You are...") The hearer should respond with her name or social status. Such a sentence is used only when a stranger has started to speak to you.

Caution: "你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details是character: 是
pinyin: shì
details谁character: 谁
pinyin: shéi
details？" is a rather impolite inquiry. So normally one avoids asking a stranger "你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details是character: 是
pinyin: shì
details谁character: 谁
pinyin: shéi
details？".

The meaning of: 请问，您哪位？

This is another polite way to ask about the identity of a stranger who has started to speak to us, or call us.

Like what we said about "你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details是character: 是
pinyin: shì
details⋯character: ⋯
pinyin:
details⋯character: ⋯
pinyin:
details", the meaning is "Who are you?" and the answer should be the name or social status.

The meaning of: 几个人？

At the restaurant is a very common inquiry and often is the very first thing they ask you, not even giving you the time to say 你character: 你
pinyin: nǐ
details好character: 好
pinyin: hǎo
details！

几character: 几
pinyin: jǐ
details个character: 个
pinyin: gè
details人character: 人
pinyin: rén
details？ means "How many people?"

How to say: How do you spell it?

"Smith, ess em i tee aitch!" The surname Smith is made up of five letters. To clear up all doubt on how to write it, we just read it letter by letter. Chinese surnames (actually all Chinese characters) are not made up of letters, but of strokes, figures, parts. How can we ask to and actually "spell" a Chinese character? Chinese people "spell" a character in two ways:

1. refer to the character's component parts;
2. refer to words composed by that character.

Example 1

Example 2