User Comments - jamestenney199

Posted on: My Friend is Inside

I highly recommend abcsofchinese.com for learning the 400 basic components/radicals. It is a free website (due to beta testing) where you can choose your own path to learning all 400 pieces of the puzzle. Think of it as learning the Chinese "alphabet", where you will be able to recognize all of the "letters" (components) in the "words" (characters) after learning the 400 pieces. It has helped me tremendously so far, though it is an additional heap of work at first. Check out the youtube videos on the program if you want to learn more about it.

Posted on: What's Your Name?

In the "Grammar" section, an example is given for the usage of 叫. It reads:

"你叫他哥哥？" or "Do you call him 'elder brother'?"

Why does this question come without a 嗎 at the end? It seems as though the question would sound like a statement instead of a question if it were to be asked aloud, as opposed to being printed, where one can see the question mark. How can this phrase, when spoken aloud, be understood as a question without an interrogative word present?

Thanks much!

Posted on: What's Your Name?

Why doesn't 他姓什麽？ require a 是, as in "His surname IS what?" It seems like 名字 is subject to the 是treatment, but 姓 isn't...

Sorry if this has been asked already!