Meaning of 其

[calibre2001]

Found this sentence and am wondering what 其 means when used in this sort of sentence. I've seen it used that way several times. Thanks.

XXX相信，劫匪已跟蹤女兒一段時間，而且也知道其女有將手提袋藏在司機座下的習慣

[ABCinChina]

In this case, 其 means her.

其 – [qí] his; her; its; theirs; that; such; it (refers to sth preceding it)

[liuzhou]

Yeah, it just means that the 'she' or'girl' referered to in the second part of the sentence is the same she or girl as in the first part.

[Hofmann]

Really? I see it as "that" in this sentence.

"...知道其女有將手提袋藏..."

"...knew that girl hid the purse..."

[liuzhou]

Yes you could say it means "that". As in girl XXX believed the thieves had been following her and THAT GIRL hid the purse. Not another girl. The same girl as in the first part of the sentence.

[ABCinChina]

So we can just drop "that" in 其女 and just say "she" correct?

The way I see it, if 其 has anything proceeding it, then when translating to English you don't have to take it into account. Thus 其 is just a pronoun sort of like 那 in 那個. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

[Hanlink]

Since Chinese does not have 'the', in more literary Chinese, 其 sometimes acts as a 'the' or 'that' along with its other uses as stated earlier. Here, it means 'the girl' or 'that (particular) girl'. You could certainly translate 其女 here as 'she', but it is probably worth bearing in mind that there is an emphatic element to this particular usage, which isn't necessarily shown by using 'she'.

[chenpv]

XXX believes the following true:

(1) The mob has been following XXX's daughter for a while.

(2) The mob also knows that XXX's daughter tends to put her handbag under the driver's seat.

Therefore. 其 = XXX's, could be either 'his' or 'her', depending on the gender of XXX, which has nothing to do with the girl.

[HashiriKata]

I don't see a big problem with 其, as all that has been said so far about it is correct, once it's put in a proper context for translation. What seems to require attention however is the English translation by Hofmann & liuzhou. It's not "the girl hid the purse..." but as it should be: "the girl had the habit of...".

Edited September 29, 2008 at 01:41 PM by HashiriKata

[liuzhou]

What seems to require attention however is the English translation by Hofmann & liuzhou.

I wasn't attempting to translate the full sentence but to explain the grammar point, which I think I did successfully, thanks.

[HashiriKata]

Take it easy! I mentioned it just in case some learners may take what you said as the translation for "XXX相信，劫匪已跟蹤女兒一段時間，而且也知道其女有將手提袋藏在司機座下的習慣":

girl XXX believed the thieves had been following her and THAT GIRL hid the purse.