他们去北京<一个朋友家>

[rtf]

 Hello!


I heard the sentence 他们去北京一个朋友家 and have difficulty understanding its collocation.

 

 

我们去北京 - 'We`re going to Beijing'

 

我们们去一个朋友家 - 'We`re going to a friend`s place'

 

我们去北京到一个朋友家 - 'We`re going to Beijing to a friend`s place'

 

我们去一个在北京的朋友家 - 'We`re going to a friend`s place which is in Beijing'

 

 

 

Is 他们去北京一个朋友家  a short version of 他们去北京的一个朋友家?

 

 

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

[davoosh]

I think it's a 'short' version of 他们去北京的一个朋友家. Spoken language can be quite 'messy' though, not everything comes out as flowing 'well-constructed' sentences, maybe 一個朋友家 was added as an after thought. Kind of like "They're going to Beijing...(to) a friend's house'.

[rtf]

Thanks,davoosh.

 

一個朋友家 was added as an after thought. Kind of like "They're going to Beijing...(to) a friend's house'.

 

That  what I assumed,but a native insisted there shouldn`t be no pause after 北京 and that

 

 

 

北京一个朋友家 is a sense group

 

So,all I`ll have to do is consider it a 'short' version.

[HelloChineseApp]

It could be 他们去北京的一个朋友家 or 他们去北京，一个朋友家。

 

If it's the first one, it just a short version and omit the 的. If it's the second one, 一个朋友家 is a complement part which describe more detail on where they are going to be in Beijing.

 

But as a native, I have to say 他们去北京一个朋友家 is not a correct sentence grammatically. As davoosh said spoken language could be messy. It's more reasonable if there is a 的 or a pause.

[rtf]

Thanks a lot,HelloChineseApp,that was helpful.

 

Just two quick ones to round it off:

 

1. Would the meaning be the same  with 到?:  我们去北京到一个朋友家 - 'We`re going to Beijing to a friend`s place'

 

2. What would  the following collocation change (if anything):  他们去北京的一个朋友家 -> 他们去一个北京的朋友家?

 

 

Thanks again and good luck to you!

[Guest realmayo]

I'd be interested if other people think 他们去北京一个朋友家 is something that Chinese native speakers wouldn't say. To my non-native ears it sounds fine.

[Guest realmayo]

rtf, are you the person in your photo?

[Guest realmayo]

他是我的一个朋友: this is correct, right?

老家在湖北一个地级市 is correct, right?

他们去湖北一个地级市 is correct, right?

他们去湖北一个朋友家 is correct, right?

他们去北京一个朋友家 is correct, right?

[HelloChineseApp]

Hi rtf,

 

1. Would the meaning be the same  with 到?:  我们去北京到一个朋友家 - 'We`re going to Beijing to a friend`s place.

I won't say it's wrong but it still sounds unnatural. The reason is the verb 到. 到 means "arrive". It's a verb to describe a status more than an action in Chinese. So when we use verb1+object1+verb2+object2, we don't use verb which describes status such 到 often. It's better to say "我们去北京，去一个朋友家。“ 

 

2. What would  the following collocation change (if anything):  他们去北京的一个朋友家 -> 他们去一个北京的朋友家? 

The second one sounds natural. But it means "they go to a friend's house who is a Beijinger". The difference is the friend is a Beijinger, but he/she may not live in Beijing.  May be they visit his house in Shanghai. For the first one, they definitely go to Beijing.

 

Hope that's helpful.

[HelloChineseApp]

Hi Realmayo,

 

 Native speaker will say 他们去北京一个朋友家 when there is supposed a pause or 的. I agree they might not notice that by themselves. If it’s a written one, 的 is preferred.

 

他是我的一个朋友: this is correct, right?

老家在湖北一个地级市 is correct, right?

他们去湖北一个地级市 is correct, right?

The above sentences are all right. 

 

他们去湖北一个朋友家 is correct, right?

他们去北京一个朋友家 is correct, right?

But these two are little bit different. The reason is the order of attributive and the when 的 can be omitted.  In the sentence 湖北一个地级市 the core word is 地级市. 湖北and 一个are attributives and both modify the core word 地级市so in this case, there is no problem to drop 的 at all. In 北京一个朋友家，the core word is 家. 北京，一个， 朋友 are all attributives. But these three don’t all modify the core word 家. 北京 and 一个 modify 朋友 while 朋友 modify 家. It’s more natural to use 的 to make relationship of the attributive more clear in this complex structure. (BTW, is the word “relationship” appropriate here?)

 

As I said, Chinese won’t think that much when we talk. So in spoken language, 他们去北京一个朋友家 is still acceptable.