I am looking for "some" teacher - how should I say that?
ok4rm
September 01, 2011, 01:53 PM posted in General DiscussionHello everybody,
I would like to say something like "I am looking for some English teacher", i.e. it does not matter who will be the teacher. I got used to definite and indefinite articles in English, but I miss this in Mandarin.
When I say "wǒ zhǎo yīng wén lǎo shī" 我找 英文 老师 is it the same as with "some"?
What about if I wanted to say "I am looking for *the* English teacher" (someone I met before)? Should I add "nà ge" then? So the sentence would be “我找那个英文老师” ？
-- Jindra
ok4rm
September 01, 2011, 06:22 PM谢谢！Somehow I forgot that many pods on this site (especially in the qing wen section) are packed with sentences using "[something] 是一个人 [explanation]".
Anyway, thank's a lot. Now I must remember it :)
Appennino
September 01, 2011, 02:54 PMHi, ok4rm. I'm Chinese. In my opinion, if you're looking for a direct translation for "I am looking for some English teacher", then perhaps you should say“我想找一个英文老师”。
If you want to say "I am looking for *the* English teacher", then you could consider adding a surname, i.e. "我找教英语的王老师”。If you say “我找那个英文老师”, then perhaps you indicate your audience know who you're talking about, and the teacher in question is somewhere nearby, (you may even point at him/her while you explain).
Hope this helps.