User Comments - kaixin_in_tampa

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

乘客们 - chéngkèmen - passengers

Heard at airports and subway stations.

http://chinesepod.com/tools/glossary/entry/乘客们

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

We can add 们 to the pronoun for inanimate objects, 它, i.e., 它们.

http://chinesepod.com/tools/glossary/entry/它们

I think we can't make the inanimate objects themselves plural by adding 们. For example, we can't say "自行车们" (bicycles).

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

Hi changye, thank you. I think 姐姐们 makes sense.

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

Some examples of 咱们:

http://chinesepod.com/tools/glossary/entry/咱们

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

Quick question, can we say 他姐姐们 (his older sisters) or 他哥哥们 (his older brothers)? Thanks!

Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day

tvan, very good question BTW, I remembered your question that's why I asked him. :-)

Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day

Hey Sarah, where in Hangzhou were you??? I was in a place called 半山 (Half Mountain, looks like a mountain chopped in half). I went there Saturday and Sunday with my boss, 他来自杭州. I met his family and we went to his mother's resting place, she passed away last year. His whole family lives at the foot of the mountain, we just walked 200 yards to the cemetery, where his older sisters performed the ritual. They just burned 2 sets of silver-colored paper and some yellow paper with markings on it (paper money?). Also left some fruits and candy there. I asked my boss some details but he's not real big on explaining things, or maybe he just doesn't remember what they mean anymore (!). A two-man combo of trumpet-huge_drum offered to play a song for 4 RMB and so they were hired on the spot, it was a nice song. I think 20 minutes at the most for the whole thing.

I felt exactly like you, very honored that they would allow me to witness such an intimate if relatively informal ceremony. It was a great experience, I definitely won't forget it.

Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day

tvan, thanks for the links! Well, yesterday my boss was on the phone with someone and when he was about to hang up he said: 清明节好. So I asked him about it and he said, yea, that, and also 清明节快乐 also ok (!!). I had a chance to witness a small 清明节 ceremony and although not nearly as solemn as the Good Friday ceremonies, I will not say 清明节快乐 to anyone even if my boss says it's ok. For a lot of people here, like my boss, honoring their ancestors means going to their parents' resting place, so 快乐 seems a little too weird. Next year I am just going to say 清明节好, seems safe enough. :-)

Posted on: Tomb Sweeping Day

Yes, I think it would be bad form, see Cassie's comment above:

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/tomb-sweeping-day#comment-72696

Posted on: Back to Basics: Making People Plural with 们 (men)

A Few Good 们:

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php?page=worddict&wdrst=0&wdqb=*们

咱们 and 孩子们 seem to be used pretty frequently, too, based on a Glossary search.