裡有的

[Thomill]

Hello,

I am having some difficulty with this sentence from Rosetta Stone Level 2.4.2.

這些人裡有的在彈吉他。

I have not seen the 裡有的 construct before. I know the meaning of the individual elements, but do not see how they are used in this context.

Thank you.

[skylee]

Parse the sentence this way -

這些人裡 / 有的 / 在彈吉他。 Among these people / some of them / are playing guitar.

有的 here means 有一些人.

[Gharial]

I don't think that "li youde" is a proper constituent. The parsing should be more like: zhe(i)xie ren li (topic) / youde (quantifier) / zai tan jita (verb phrase with aspect), "(Among these people) some of them are playing the guitar". (Edit: Skylee beat me to it!).

Not being funny, but you can't really say you know much about the meanings of the individual items when you seem unaware of how they are functioning in such basic contexts, Thomill. (If Rosetta Stone isn't providing and/or isn't going to provide you with the necessary grammar or range of examples, you might need to consider getting a better - better-value, more thorough - course, or at least a halfway-decent grammar reference book; then, a good dictionary is often just as helpful. Please do ask if you'd like some recommendations!).

[semantic nuance]

這些人裡有的在彈吉他。

Try to read it like 這些人裡(面)有的(人)在彈吉他: Some of these people are playing the guitar. Also, you can say 有些人, too.

[yhe2006]

I did not know that 在 also means "to play".

Is my assumption correct?

[imron]

No. 彈 means to play (an instrument such as the guitar, piano, violin). In this sentence, 在 serves the same role as '-ing' in English.

[yhe2006]

thanks imron,

So 彈 is pronounced tán and not dàn.

[Thomill]

Thank you very much all.

As to not understanding "such basic contexts" Gharial, I am working to do just that. To that end, this forum has been and hopefully will continue to be a valued resource.

[imron]

Yes, when talking about playing an instrument, 彈 is pronounced tán

[Gharial]

Sure, Thomill, these forums are very useful, and I hope you will continue to get a lot out of them. And like I say, it wasn't my intention to sound too critical - I appreciate you're learning - but rather to get more of an idea of the utility of the Rosetta Stone courseware. (My gut feeling is that it is probably not that good value for money ultimately, but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts).