Monday 28 May 2007

Learning Chinese R/W way - Lesson 8

In English, you need to pay attention to the first sentence when you ask a question.
For example:

You like American food, don't you?
You don't like French food, do you?


In Chinese, we don't need to pay attention to the first part of the sentence. They are
你喜歡美國食物, 是嗎?
你不喜歡法國食物, 是嗎?


Or you can say
你喜不喜歡美國食物? (Do you, or do you not like American food?)

Please also notice that Chinese answer depends on the question, not the answer.
For example,
You like American food, don't you?
No. [I don't].
is translated to
你喜歡美國食物, 是嗎?
不.

But
You don't like French food, do you??
No, I don't.
is translated to
你不喜歡法國食物, 是嗎?
是. {Indicating that I agree with the question, i.e. I don't like French food).

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