外边的屋子里

[kavanin]

I'm not clear about the meaning of 外边的屋子里 in 外边的屋子里， 中间放着一张桌子。

Is it another way of saying 屋子外边 or does it mean something else?

[creamyhorror]

外边的屋子里

= (外边的屋子)里

= inside (the house outside)

外边的屋子里， 中间放着一张桌子。

In the middle of the house outside sits a table.

[kavanin]

Thank you. Please forgive my ignorance but I still can't figure out where the table is. Here is a better context:

王国华和他爱人去劳动了， 他父亲和母亲在家。看见外国朋友来了， 他们很高兴， 握着客人们的手说：“欢迎， 欢迎！” 他们请客人到屋里坐。屋子的门和窗户都开着， 屋子里很干净， 也很整齐。

外边的屋子里， 中间放着一张桌子。桌子两边有几把椅子， 桌子上放着电视机。

[creamyhorror]

Hmm, I'm not sure how to interpret that, it doesn't make sense to me. Maybe someone else will have a better idea.

[yonglin]

Perhaps you can think about it as an inner and outer room in their house? Presumably, you receive guests and have dinner in the "outer" room, and sleep in the "inner" room. I mean, it doesn't really make sense to have table, chairs, TV, etc. outside the house.

[kavanin]

Thank you. I'll understand it as in the outer room.

[skylee]

屋子is a room. 房子is a house.

[creamyhorror]

屋子is a room. 房子is a house.

I'm actually used to thinking of 屋子 and 房子 as "house" and 房间 as "room". This confused me when I encountered people saying 屋子 for "room". My mistake.

Anyway, in this case, even given that 外边的屋子 refers to an external room, the passage still doesn't quite make sense to me. The visitor enters the 屋子presumably from the outside, and once he's inside, how come there's another 外边的屋子?

[skylee]

How about the friends are at the main door, the parents invite them to go inside, ie the outer room. Have you heard of houses being described as 二進？ (Sorry for introducing more terms.)

In Cantonese 屋 is a house (the bigger unit) , whereas 房 is a room (the smaller unit). This is perhaps a southern usage.