Conjunction "that", "who" or "which" in Chinese? I know that also Chinese language has many conjuctions like "and", "or", "if", "because", "therefore" and so on, anyway is there an equivalent of "that

Fabio

Conjunction "that", "who" or "which" in Chinese? I know that also Chinese language has many conjuctions like "and", "or", "if", "because", "therefore" and so on, anyway is there an equivalent of "that", "who" and "which"? I don't mean question tags but conjunctions. I give you an example in English: I saw the cat that you like. (that) I saw the guy who told you are beautiful (who) I study Chinese, which is a beautiful language. (which) Do you understand the type of "that", "who" and "which" i mean? Well..I think that these conjuctions maybe aren't used in Chinese language but i could be wrong. You could translate the sentences i wrote from English to Chinese, then we could discuss about it. Is there an equivalent of these conjuctions in Chinese or you just use a different sentence structure that doesn't require these conjunctions? I hope the question is clear.

Oct 11, 2013 1:30 PM

Answers · 21

Translate from English to Chinese: I saw the cat that you like. (that) 我看到了你喜欢的那只猫（或那种猫） I saw the guy who told you are beautiful (who) 我看见说你漂亮的那个人了。 I study Chinese, which is a beautiful language. (which) 我学习中文，它是一种优美的语言。 Do you understand the type of "that", "who" and "which" i mean? In Chinese, "that", "who" and "which" have the precise meaning in some uses. “that” is very similar with using in English, in Chinese, it is written 那/那个/那样/那么，general speaking. "who" often used as subject in interrogative sentence, at the beginning or in the middle of sentence,it is only written 谁 in Chinese."which" is written 哪/哪个/哪些 in Chinese, it usually hasn't other using.

October 11, 2013

Yes, in Chinese, we use Because, therefore, and, but we don't use the conjunction That, Which Who. We use "的" instead. In English way, you say 我看见了“猫that你喜欢”。 In Chinese way, we say 我看见了“你喜欢的”猫。 We use De for the modify part even it is a sentence. Here "That you like" is the modify part for the cat. John

October 14, 2013

Ciao Fabio come ti hanno ben spiegato gli altri, la nostra frase relativa in cinese diventa una sorta di aggettivo che si mette prima del nome a cui si riferisce e al quale si lega con 的. Lo schema dovrebbe essere: Soggetto Verbo (frase relativa)的 oggetto. (frase relativa)的 soggetto verbo oggetto. o, più semplicemente, come dice bene Jmat: (frase relativa)的 nome Quindi: Ho visto (ti piace) 的 (quel) gatto Ho visto (ha detto sei bellissima) 的 (quel) ragazzo come ti ha spiegato molto bene Legnomo. All'inizio può essere faticoso pensare di mettere un'intera frase prima del nome, ma col tempo e la pratica, diventerà naturale! ;)

October 11, 2013

My Chinese isn't very good, but I'll try to answer your question. Relative clauses are completely different in Chinese than English (I don't know about Italian). They don't use relative pronouns or even a separate clause. The modifier is written before the noun, and connected with 的. For example: 说英语的人 Literally: Speak English 的 people Meaning: People who speak English "I saw the cat that you like." 我看了你喜欢的猫。 “我看见了说你很漂亮的人。” - I saw the guy who said you are beautiful. I'm not sure how "告诉" works with a direct and indirect object. This is my attempt: "我看见了告诉你你很漂亮的人" - I saw the guy who told you you are beautiful. "I study Chinese, which is a beautiful language" Hmm... I don't know if this form works on a proper noun. I think it translates literally to this: "我学习是漂亮语言的汉语" Again, I don't think this works on proper nouns. I'm not entirely sure though.

October 11, 2013

I saw the cat that you like. (that) = 我看见了你喜欢的猫。 I saw the guy who told you are beautiful (who) = 我看见了说你漂亮的家伙。 I study Chinese, which is a beautiful language. (which) = 我以为汉语好听就学它。

October 13, 2013

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