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India flagAbhishek(公务员)
confused about the usage of you(third tone). 你们好。I was reading a grammar book and found a word you(third tone) used in two diffrent sentences.wo(3) you(3) San(1) ben(3) shu(1) which means I have three books and nar(4) you(3) hua(1) which means there's a flower over there.I am confused about the usage of you(3).Why does it have different meaning even though the tone is same in both cases?

Corrections · 9

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confused about the usage of you(third tone).

你们好。I was reading a grammar book and found a word you(third tone) used in two diffrent sentences.wo(3) you(3) San(1) ben(3) shu(1) which means I have three books and nar(4) you(3) hua(1) which means there's a flower over there.I am confused about the usage of you(3).Why does it have different meaning even though the tone is same in both cases?

 

有 has only one meaning in Chinese.  It means "to have".  The problem is in English because of the way things are expressed.


我有三本書 , I have three books.

那辺有花, Over there have flowers  However, it is bad English to use "have" here.  Proper English demands that "are" be used because "over there" is not a living creature capable of possession. The same sentence can also be translated as "Over there, flowers exist".


Chinese has no singular, plural distinction or tenses in their verbs.  Depending on context, 有 can be use to denote "has", "have", "had", "is", "are", "were".  For tense distinction, explicit time indicators are used.

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Just because 有 can be translated as 'have', does not mean it can't be translated other ways. We have to change how we translate it in the second sentence because we can't say 'over there have a flower' in English. 有 can be has, have, there is, there are, exists and so on.

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chinese is totally different from western languages. in chinese, many characters could have the same tone even if they have different meanings.

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Thank you for your help.It has too many meanings and tone makes it more difficult to understand.
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Chinese is very difficult,because a lot of characters have the same tone,and even one character could have diffirent tones and meanings.For example 有(you),this charactor has many different meanings in Chinese, 1.exist,location---我的桌子上“有”一本书(wo3 de2 zhuo2 zi shang4 "you"3 yi1 ben3 shu1)there is a book on my desk. 2.belong to——我“有”一本书(wo3 you3 yi4 ben3 shu1)i have a book. 3.appear,arise, emerge ——明天“有”雨(ming2 tian1 you3 yu3)it’s rainy tomorrow. 4.measure,compare——我有50千克(wo3 you3 wu3 shi2 qian1 ke4)i weigh 50 kg. 5.much,very,a lot——你很有学问(ni3 hen3 you3 xue2 wen4)you are learned. 6.有 的人(you3 de2 ren4)someone,有的地方(you3 de2 di4 fang1) someplace,有一天(you3 yi4 tian1)one day, hope i am helpful O(∩_∩)O~

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