Apropriate questions

[taihu-dterraza]

When first meeting someone what would appropriate to ask?

你叫什么名字？

今年你多大？

你喜欢车什么？

are these ok? or are there better ways to phrase it?

[gougou]

The phrasing is fine, though there are of course plenty of other ways to convey the same message.

你喜欢车什么？

That probably should be 吃 (chi) instead of 车 (che).

[roddy]

Or 你喜欢什么车？

[skylee]

今年你多大？

I doubt if this is an appropriate question.

[greenleaf1348]

你的皮鞋多少钱？

"some" seem to think it's ok...

[renzhe]

Isn't 今年你多大？ used primarily with children and people younger than you?

It seems that 你今年几岁? is more respectful, but asking total strangers this may seem a bit too intrusive.

[Lu]

I was taught you ask small children 几岁, and people who are more than a few years old 多大. Then I went to Taiwan and they only ever ask 几岁. Renzhe, I don't know where you are/learned Chinese?

[renzhe]

In Europe, mainly from mainland materials. I don't remember where I read that, It could be that I got the two mixed up.

Edited November 20, 2008 at 07:01 PM by renzhe

[imron]

几岁 is pretty much exclusively used for small children on the mainland.

For people older than you/more politeness, you might use something like 你今年多大岁数了？ or 你今年年龄多大了？

[roddy]

I seem to remember being told that you couldn't ask older people 几岁 as 几 was only for small numbers. So I just went looking for '多少岁' on Google and it's not uncommon. Don't think I've ever heard it used though.

[vampire]

I think there is no strict rule that 几岁 can not be used to old people, 你/您今年多大岁数了 is more polite and respectful, but when you are not asking someone face to face, like asking B about C's age, whether C is a child or an old person, 他今年几岁了/他今年多大了 are both OK

[lilongyue]

Yes, there is a rule. Asking "你几岁?" is only appropriate for children. If you are asking an adult, you should say "你多大?" Before learning this distinction, I got into some trouble by asking adults "你几岁?"

[skylee]

The rule in HK is that you don't ask an adult how old he/she is.

[imron]

In which case, you just ask 你属什么？

[vivianvivian]

Chinese food can be roughly divided into eight regional cuisines.Also there are many other local cuisines that are delicious. so it's somewhat difficult to answer:"你喜欢吃什么？”。When you meet somebody the first time, you could ask him:"你们这儿最好吃的特产是什么？”（What's the speciality here?)

[semantic nuance]

Or a too polite way to ask: 請問您貴庚? (for older people or for being polite)