What is the difference between the following the following way to say "many"

[piano0011]

I have been using the following structure all a long to say many:

 

hen duo ren = many people

hen duo che = many cars

 

but can you also say:

 

hen ren duo = many people

hen che duo = many cars..

 

a video that I am watching is using the following structure:

 

ren duo = many people

che duo = many cars

[cncorrect]

Although there are only two characters, '人多' is a sentence. '人' is the subject and '多' is the adjective. The translation is that the people are many. 

 

But '很多人' is a phrase. '很' is the adverb. '多' is the adjective. '人' is the noun. 

 

I've never heard of '很人多' in conversations.

Edited January 4, 2024 at 08:23 AM by cncorrect
correct

[piano0011]

I see.... so what you are trying to say is that ren duo is a set phrase.... So I can only say...

 

1) ren duo

2) che duo

3) hen duo ren

4) hen duo che

[becky82]

Let's start here:

 

On 1/4/2024 at 8:54 AM, piano0011 said:

ren duo = many people

che duo = many cars

 

We can interpret this as a topic-comment sentence.  In English, we have sentence such as:

 

Quote

Regrets, I've had a few.

 

This is the grammar pattern in play with 人多 (rén duō) or 车多 (chē duō), which by themselves are interpreted as complete sentences:

 

Quote

People, [there are] many.

Cars, [there are] many.

 

Note it's quite common to put a 了 at the end, such as in 人多了 (rén duō le) or 车多了 (chē duō le); it adds a kind of exasperated feeling to the sentence.  Next, let's look at:

 

On 1/4/2024 at 8:54 AM, piano0011 said:

but can you also say:

 

hen ren duo = many people

hen che duo = many cars..

 

These are just plain wrong.  After 很 (hěn) you mostly add adjectives e.g. 他很淘气  (tā hěn táoqì) = "he's naughty" or verbs e.g. 我很喜欢他 (wǒ hěn xǐhuān tā) = "I really like him".

 

I think what you're thinking of is: 人很多 (rén hěn duō) and 车很多 (chē hěn duō), which are basically the same as 人多 (rén duō) or 车多 (chē duō) but with 很 (hěn) added in (maybe you can say it means "very" here).

[piano0011]

Ah.... This is confusing but you are right... I was thinking of ren hen duo = ren duo or che hen duo = che duo..... 

It is good to know several ways to say things... thanks!

[cncorrect]

On 1/4/2024 at 12:04 PM, piano0011 said:

ren duo is a set phrase

No, 人多 is a sentence. Some words are omitted. The complete sentence is '人（是）多（的）。'. But I've never heard of '很人多' in conversations.

[piano0011]

cheers guys! thanks for clearing that up!

[Lu]

The thing with Chinese adjectives like 多 or 红 or what have you is that they are basically verbs.

红 to be red

东方红 the east is red

 

However! This is not the end of it. In a sense, 好 doesn't quite mean 'to be good', but rather 'to be better'; 大 means 'to be bigger'.

英国大还是中国大？ Is the UK bigger or is China bigger?

中国大。 China is bigger.

So what if you simply want to say 'China is big' or 'This book is good', without comparing? You use 很.

中国很大。

这本书很好。

 

Chinese grammar is indeed not simple. Keep asking the questions, I hope the answers are of some help.

[piano0011]

thanks but just didn't know there is some slight varient in terms of word order...

 

ren duo = ren hen duo = hen duo ren

che duo = che hen duo = hen duo che