Difference between revisions of "Expressing distance with "li""

Line 37: Line 37:
 
<div class="jiegou">
 
<div class="jiegou">
  
Place 1 + 离 + Place 2 + 近 / 远 + 吗?
+
Place 1 + 离 + Place 2 + (Adv.) + 近 / 远 + 吗?
  
 
</div>
 
</div>
Line 53: Line 53:
 
<div class="liju">
 
<div class="liju">
  
* 你家 <em>离</em> 超市 远 吗?<span class="pinyin"> Nǐ jiā <em>lí</em> chāoshì yuǎn ma?</span> <span class="trans">Is your house far away from the supermarket?</span>
+
* 你家 <em>离</em> 超市 远 吗?<span class="pinyin"> Nǐ jiā <em>lí</em> chāoshì yuǎn ma?</span> <span class="trans">Is your house far away from the supermarket?</span>
* 你 的 大学 <em>离</em> 你 老家 远 不 远?<span class="pinyin">Nǐ de dàxué <em>lí</em> nǐ lǎojiā yuǎn bù yuǎn?</span> <span class="trans">Is your college far away from your hometown?</span>
+
* 你 的 大学 <em>离</em> 你 老家 吗?<span class="pinyin">Nǐ de dàxué <em>lí</em> nǐ lǎojiā hěn yuǎn ma?</span> <span class="trans">Is your college very far away from your hometown? </span>
* 你们 公司 <em>离</em> 地铁站 近 不 近?<span class="pinyin">Nǐmen gōngsī <em>lí</em> dìtiězhàn jìn bù jìn?</span> <span class="trans">Is your company close to the metro station?</span>
+
* 你们 公司 <em>离</em> 地铁站 近 吗?<span class="pinyin">Nǐmen gōngsī <em>lí</em> dìtiězhàn jìn ma? </span> <span class="trans">Is your company close to the metro station? </span>
 
* 你 家 <em>离</em> 学校 有 多远?<span class="pinyin">Nǐ jiā <em>lí</em> xuéxiào yǒu duō yuǎn?</span> <span class="trans">How far is it from your home to school? </span>
 
* 你 家 <em>离</em> 学校 有 多远?<span class="pinyin">Nǐ jiā <em>lí</em> xuéxiào yǒu duō yuǎn?</span> <span class="trans">How far is it from your home to school? </span>
 
* 这个 酒店 <em>离</em> 机场 有 多远?<span class="pinyin">Zhège jiǔdiàn <em>lí</em> jīchǎng yǒu duō yuǎn? </span> <span class="trans">How far is it from this hotel to the airport? </span>
 
* 这个 酒店 <em>离</em> 机场 有 多远?<span class="pinyin">Zhège jiǔdiàn <em>lí</em> jīchǎng yǒu duō yuǎn? </span> <span class="trans">How far is it from this hotel to the airport? </span>

Revision as of 01:31, 4 February 2017

Are we there yet? One of the ways to express distance is to use 离 (lí). The word order might seem a little tricky at first, but once you get it down, you'll be able to talk about distance with no problem.

Using 离 (lí) in a Statement

Structure

Unless you're talking about a very specific distance, you'll normally want to pair 离 (lí) with the adjective 近 (jìn) for "close," or 远 (yuǎn) for "far."

Place 1 + 离 + Place 2 + Adv. + 近 / 远

So this pattern is normally used to simply express that one place is (not) close or (not) far from another place. Easy, right? It's learning the sentence pattern that usually trips learners up, because it doesn't feel like natural word order to a speaker of English.

Examples

  • 我 家 公司 很 近。Wǒ jiā gōngsī hěn jìn. My house is close to my office.
  • 美国 中国 很 远。Měiguó Zhōngguó hěn yuǎn. The USA is far from China.
  • 这 个 酒店 火车站 很 近。 Zhège jiǔdiàn huǒchēzhàn hěn jìn. This hotel is very close to the train station.
  • 那 个 酒吧 这儿 太 远 了, 我 不 想 去。 Nàge jiǔbā zhèr tài yuǎn le, wǒ bù xiǎng qù. That bar is too far away from here. I don't want to go.
  • 我 不想 去 家 很远 的 地方 工作。Wǒ bù xiǎng qù jiā hěn yuǎn de dìfang gōngzuò. I don't want to go work at a place very far away from home.

Using 离 (lí) in a Question

Structure

This sentence pattern is extremely common in everyday conversations when discussing distances.

Place 1 + 离 + Place 2 + (Adv.) + 近 / 远 + 吗?

Place 1 + 离 + Place 2 + 有 多远?

Note that in English, you can actually ask "How close is it from here". But in Chinese, it's just "How far is it from here".

Examples

  • 你家 超市 远 吗? Nǐ jiā chāoshì yuǎn ma? Is your house far away from the supermarket?
  • 你 的 大学 你 老家 很 远 吗?Nǐ de dàxué nǐ lǎojiā hěn yuǎn ma? Is your college very far away from your hometown?
  • 你们 公司 地铁站 近 吗?Nǐmen gōngsī dìtiězhàn jìn ma? Is your company close to the metro station?
  • 你 家 学校 有 多远?Nǐ jiā xuéxiào yǒu duō yuǎn? How far is it from your home to school?
  • 这个 酒店 机场 有 多远?Zhège jiǔdiàn jīchǎng yǒu duō yuǎn? How far is it from this hotel to the airport?

Expressing "Stay away from Me" with (lí)

One final example which is a command, and a commonly heard line:

  • 我 远 点 儿 ! wǒ yuǎn diǎnr! Distance yourself from me further.

It's a somewhat atypical usage when compared with the others, because it uses two people rather than two places. The sentence means "distance yourself from me further," in other words, "stay away from me" or "don't come near me."

See Also

Sources and further reading

Books