help with sentences, translation

[Guest mamba9]

I just need a little confirmation on my translation if its correct.

昨天下午他來了沒有? (or ...來了嗎)

他沒來,您去沒有? (or ...您去嗎)

我去了,那裡一個人也沒有.

Now for my rough translation, since I'm new to all the 了 stuff. I've probably read that 4 page thread "Grammar #4: 了" about 20 times already. So I think it goes like this, please correct me if I'm wrong:

Yesterday afternoon, did he come?

He didn't come, did you go?

I went. There wasn't a single person there.

Now about the last sentence, I don't see any 不 or 在, since the person/people were not present. In the book I'm using they use the example:

一本中國書我也沒有.

I don't have a single Chinese book.

Which is why I just guessed that the last sentence meant "There wasn't a single person there." Im confused here, whats 也? Doesn't that mean (too, also)?

Thanks for the help in advance.

[skylee]

Your english translation is correct.

However the second sentence in Chinese is a bit weird. I would think that it would need a “了” as in 他沒來,您去了沒有? (or ...您去了嗎).

[Gulao]

Which is why I just guessed that the last sentence meant "There wasn't a single person there." Im confused here, whats 也? Doesn't that mean (too, also)?

有 is just as much a statement of being in a place as it is a verb for possession. If it helps, you can think of 某地有人 as saying "thus and so place has people," which sounds more natural to an English speaker when translated to: "there are people at thus and so place."

The construction that results in the 也 is the sentence pattern, (连) + Topic + (S) + 都/也 + Negative Predicate. This sentence pattern is used to indicate that a certain negative state is true without exceptions. Sometimes, a positive state can be said, but it's rare. Generally, the "Topic" is a question word, or an extreme, although not all the time.. Oftentimes the structure is translated with the English word "even."

Some examples:

儿童节目之中，连大头儿子我也没看过。

Out of all the children's shows, I haven't even seen Datou Erzi.

在那个舞会，什么我认识的人都看不见。

There were no people I recognized to be seen at that party.

Hope that helps!

[againstwind]

Im confused here, whats 也? Doesn't that mean (too, also)?

It's not here.

In your sentence ‘一本中國書我也沒有’, 也 is an adverb and expresses something like 'even', used as an intensive.

More examples:

那里即使七月份也很冷。

It was cold there even in July.

甚至是三岁的小孩也看得懂这本书。

Even a three years old child can understand the book.

她开始减肥了，一丁点肉也不吃。

She has begun to lose weight and doesn't eat even a bit meat.

一本中文书我也沒有。

I don't have even a single Chinese book.