Question on the word jia1
meir
July 03, 2014, 09:50 PM posted in I Have a QuestionIn the phrase for "I would like a coffee with milk" I saw it listed in a phrasebook as "Wo3 xiang3 yao4 ka1fe1 jia1 niu2 nai3"
It said that jiā niúnǎi ( 加 牛奶literally means glass milk instead of with milk.
Yet "and sugar" is listed as he2 tang2.和糖
So, if he2 is "and/with" , why isn't it he2 niu2 nai3?
How does jiā fit into the picture and what does it really mean (dazed, confused expression)?
meir
Thanks Adam, sorry for not responding earlier. When I went back through the material I found when put together it was "Wo3 Xiang3yao4ka1fei1jia1niu2nai3he2tang2.
If I understand correctly if you are only adding one thing you use 加 but if you are adding multiple items you use 加 for the first one and 和 before each additional item? Such as milk with (jia1) and (he2) sugar and (he2) flavor syrup?
If you only had coffee with sugar would you just use 加 加 instead of
和糖.?
adamrichards
Bingo. You can just ask to 加糖. And no one would blame you, as milk isn't exactly the most trustworthy beverage in China!
meir
Thanks, Adam. That was a big help!
adamrichards
July 05, 2014, 02:32 AMDon't stress yourself out too much over this one, Meir.
加 is a verb meaning "to add", and 和 is just linking all of the things that you want to 加。
Without having seen your phrasebook, I'm guessing that 和糖 assumes that you are 加ing it with something else, probably milk (here's the "and/with" from your question). However, if you only wanted sugar, you would just 加糖.
Hope that clears things up!
加油！