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街上小吃
does "你叫什么名字" come from "你被叫什么名字" ?

Answers · 8

1
I'd like to show you two common Chinese expressions of "What's your name?“ 你叫什么名字?when you talk to people at your age or younger than you. 怎么称呼您? to people older than you.
1
no,it doesnt come from “你被叫什么名字”.“你被叫什么名字”is a wrong expression.“你叫什么”and“你叫什么名字”are both OK.
1
hmm... good question. plz remember: chinese is not a logical language. as ur example, logically, we should say: 你被叫什么名字 but we never say like this..... in chinese, there are many phenomenons like this: 被 is omitted. for example, ur bike doesn't work so u enter a repair shop and say: 我想修我的自行车。 look at this phrase, if we translate it into english, it will become: I want to repair my bike. so who gonna repair this bike? it is ME. so if this is an english repair shop, the worker think that u want to borrow some tools and repair ur bike by urself. but in china, if we enter a repair shop and say: 我想修我的自行车。 it means that i come here to find someone who can repair my bike for me. so logically, we should say: 我想让我的自行车被修。 i dont know why but we never ever say like this...

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