prepositional phrases

[murrayjames]

Hello,

I am a beginner Mandarin student. Here's my question:

Do prepositional phrases generally follow the object of a Subject-Verb-Object sentence? For example, are these sentences correct (or are the prepositions misplaced)?

Can I drink your beer at home?

可以喝你的啤酒在家吗？

I touch the dog in public.

我摸狗公开。

I'm also not sure if these sentences are ambiguous or not. In English, my first sentence is potentially unclear--I'm asking either to drink your beer *while I am* at home, or I'm asking to drink your beer *that is* at home. Does this ambiguity also exist in Chinese?

Thanks, and I'm glad I found this forum. What a great resource!

-murrayjames

[koreth]

Clauses that modify the verb should come before the verb. The ambiguity you mentioned in your first sentence wouldn't exist in Chinese.

"May I, while at home, drink your beer?" = 我可以在家喝你的啤酒吗？

"May I drink the beer of yours that is at home?" = 我可以喝你的在家的啤酒吗？

(That second one can probably be said less awkwardly, but I think it's not grammatically incorrect.)

[murrayjames]

koreth, thanks for your response

could i trouble you for the pinyin of the sentences you wrote? I don't recognize a few of the characters just a beginner!

-murrayjames

[koreth]

Sure, no problem:

"May I, while at home, drink your beer?" = 我可以在家喝你的啤酒吗 = wo3 ke3yi3 zai4 jia1 he1 ni3 de pi2jiu3 ma

"May I drink the beer of yours that is at home?" = 我可以喝你的在家的啤酒吗 = wo3 ke3yi3 he1 ni3 de zai4 jia1 de pi2jiu3 ma?

(But I think those are all characters you used in your message, just in different orders.)

[againstwind]

And the 2nd one:

"I touch the dog in public."

我当众摸那只狗。Wo3 dang1zhong4 mo1 na4zhi1 gou3.

Don't forget to add the measure word 只 beafore 狗 when you denoted the particular dog.

[Quest]

could i trouble you for the pinyin of the sentences you wrote? I don't recognize a few of the characters just a beginner!

I think all the characters he used appeared in your own post...

Put locations in between the subject and the verb.

And don't forget Chinese is a topic-prominent language.