Where on earth? Sentence structure

[Vextee]

Hello I've been learning Chinese for about 3 weeks. I've been making a lot of progress, but I do from time to time come across problems where I'd need help from someone as opposed to a translator or dictionary. Especially in the subject of sentence structure.

Which of these would make the most sense?

我来自(Insert country name)

我自(Insert country name)來

Please give me your own judgement on these sentences and other possibilities

[Lu]

Both these structures are rather 书面 because of the 自. I usually go with 我是(country)人.

[anthonchai]

The first one is more appropriate.

but as #1 has mentioned , this sentence is quite formal. In a less formal sense you may say

我是從(COUNTRY)來的.

And i agree to Lu...

u can also say"I am (country)人" eg. 我是(英國)人.. :rolleyes:

[Aweni]

Both means "I come from..." in English,

and I think "我来自...(country)”it makes sense. or you may say "我是...(country)人” ，that's Ok. It's the same meaning.

By the way, "我自...来”，people usually don't say that in the daily conversation. it sounds a little strange,though it means "I come from..."

[skylee]

By the way, "我自...来”，people usually don't say that in the daily conversation. it sounds a little strange,though it means "I come from..."

This reminds me of the famous poem by 胡適: "我從山中來，帶着蘭花草..." Here 從=自.

[马盖云]

我自(Insert country name)來

In the case where you would use this sentence structure (instead of the 我是美国人 style) you would preferrably use the verb 从 for 'from'. ex: 我从美国来。

edit： your first example also has incorrect word order. The English "I come from X" which you tried to say as 我来自X has to be phrased like: "I from X come" in Chinese ex: 我从X来。

In addition, the distinction between being (ethnically) "from" somewhere and coming from somewhere (location) is important. If you say "Where do you come from" your way in Chinese, "oh, from the train station" is a more likely response than "china" would be! :rolleyes:

Edited May 30, 2011 at 03:41 PM by 马盖云

[skylee]

your first example also has incorrect word order. The English "I come from X" which you tried to say as 我来自X has to be phrased like: "I from X come" in Chinese ex: 我从X来。

我來自X is not wrong. It is ok. But as Lu said it is not what you would use in daily conversation.

ex: 我从美国来。

This does not sound quite right (although it is used in the poem I quoted). Perhaps the 是 ... 的 ... pattern should be used here? Ah grammar is a very difficult thing.

[abcdefg]

I've been learning Chinese for about 3 weeks. I've been making a lot of progress, but I do from time to time come across problems where I'd need help from someone as opposed to a translator or dictionary. Especially in the subject of sentence structure.

3 weeks. Don't feel bad. I've been learning several years and still "from time to time" run across such situations.