Quick question on 裡邊

[necroflux]

Quick question, in the following dialog (provided for context purposes but you can probably skip to the actual snippet below):

A：我叫張雲，上午給你打電話說來看房子。

B：啊，你好，快請進。

A：這套房子從外邊兒看很漂亮。

B：是啊，這是新房子。你看，客廳裡的沙發、桌子都是新的。

A：真不錯。我能看看廚房和臥室嗎？

B：好啊，廚房在那邊，在臥室前邊。

A：廚房可不太大。

B：可是臥室都不小。來，你來看看，這邊走。

A：謝謝。

B：你看，那是一間臥室，裡邊也是臥室。

A：這兩間臥室哪一間大？

B：裡邊的大。

A：窗戶外邊是花園嗎？

B：對，花園現在很漂亮，有個作花園的常常來整理。你看，這套房子怎麼樣啊?

A：嗯......明天再讓我愛人來看看吧。

What does the following mean:

B：你看，那是一間臥室，裡邊也是臥室。

A：這兩間臥室哪一間大？

B：裡邊的大。

"Look, there's the bedroom, inside of which is also the bedroom?" lol obviously that's wrong. I have no clue about the next two lines either.

[anonymoose]

Where did you get this dialogue from? From the context, it's not so clear, but I'd say

B：你看，那是一間臥室，裡邊也是臥室。

A：這兩間臥室哪一間大？

B：裡邊的大。

means

B: Look, there's a bedroom, there's also a bedroom inside (some other part of the house?).

A: Which of these two bedrooms is bigger?

B: The one inside is bigger.

[necroflux]

It's from this video:

http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons/7/videotext.htm

Glad to know I'm not the only one who's confused. They are in the house the whole time, so the reference to "inside" doesn't make sense to me at all.

Edit: I guess it seems like they are already looking into a room, so she must be telling the girl that there is another bedroom through that room. I've never seen a comparison of size used this way either, can anyone comment on how this differs from "比較大"?

[Joffrie]

As a native, I may tell you that 里边 does mean inside. In the context, however, the phrase indicates the room which is farther from the speakers, that means there are two bedrooms which are next to each other.

For instance, 请往里（边）走！means please go farther inside.

Hope u can understand.

[necroflux]

Which tone is 往 in that sentence? 第三聲嗎?

Thanks!

[ccccheese]

往 是第三聲

往 is always 第三聲

Maybe a few Beijing natives would tend to pronounce 第四聲 in 请往里（边）走

[HashiriKata]

I've never seen a comparison of size used this way either, can anyone comment on how this differs from "比較大"?

Actually, in the context above, 裡邊的大 is the best way to say "the one inside is bigger (than the other one)". However, if you use (裡邊的)比較大, it simply means: "The one inside is fairly large" and is therefore not answering the question.

[skylee]

Actually, in the context above, 裡邊的大 is the best way to say "the one inside is bigger (than the other one)". However, if you use (裡邊的)比較大, it simply means: "The one inside is fairly large" and is therefore not answering the question.

Why? I think they are the same.

Compare these questions -> 這兩間臥室哪一間大？ vs 這兩間臥室哪一間比較大？

And these answers -> 裏邊的大 vs 裏邊的比較大

They are the same to me.

[wai ming]

I guess 裏邊的大 and 裏邊的比較大 are different in that 裏邊的大 can only be used to answer a question, whereas 裏邊的比較大 can form a statement on its own, without reference to a question. Does that make sense?

[HashiriKata]

I think Wai ming's said what I'd have said. In my earlier reply, I didn't entirely rule out other possibilities but simply said that in the context (of the question 這兩間臥室哪一間大？), 裡邊的大 is the best reply to it.

[skylee]

I don't think "裏邊的大" is a better reply than "裏邊的比較大" to the question "這兩間臥室哪一間大？" in the context of the conversation concerned. I think they are the same.

Also, I think "if you use (裡邊的)比較大, it simply means: "The one inside is fairly large"" is not correct. "裏邊的比較大" means "The one insider is larger".

[semantic nuance]

I second skylee. These two are the same in the context posted here.

[starvken]

when we show someone two rooms，and one is near to us，the other far from us，we can say there is a room，and 里边 still another room。里边 means there is one room far from us，and if we go further along the way，we can see it

[tanhql]

when asked 这两间卧室哪一间比较大？

i would answer 里边的比较大。

when asked 这两间卧室哪一间大？

i would answer 里边的大。

see? it depends on the format of the question, as you wouldn't think too much on the format of the answer, and would follow the format of the question to answer.

[HashiriKata]

Exactly as you said, tanhql. And this is not just Chinese, it's universal.

[nipponman]

when asked 这两间卧室哪一间比较大？

i would answer 里边的比较大。

when asked 这两间卧室哪一间大？

i would answer 里边的大。

In English:

Which of these two rooms is fairly large?

The room inside is fairly large.

Which of these two rooms is big?

The room inside is big.

I think that you can say the first answer to both questions, and the second one sounds best only with the second question. Eg.

这两间卧室哪一间大？

里边的比较大/里边的大。

B/c the room may not be very big in your opinion, but you think it is relatively big. That is why I think Skylee and Semantic Nuance think they are the same.