10

这个问题我找不到解释， 希望哪位高手可以帮下 ^^

学生想说 I have a question, 常常会说成 "我有问题." 我会教他们用 “我有个问题” 或者 “我有一个问题。”

原因是听到 “我有问题”的时候， 我的第一联想就是 “我脑子有问题。" 可是我语法上面解释不来也查不到。

现在我自己都快糊涂了。 所以我想问：

1） “我有问题” 是正确的吗？ 我左看右看都觉得是错的。 可是百度上却有人怎么用。 求解释。 “我有问题” 可以用的情况下为： 我有问题想问你。 你有问题的话， 去问老板。 (不过这句话， 我个人还是比较喜欢用 “如果你有任何问题的话， 去问老板”）

2) 在百度上也常常看到 “你有问题吗？”， 如果我的话， 我会想用 “你有没有什么问题？”。 但是这句话只要不从贬义的角度来看的话， 是没有什么问题的。 你是怎么看待这句话的？

谢谢。

这问题也发表在另一个语言论坛上。

English version

"我有问题" vs "我有个问题" - Grammar explanation if possible?

I can't find an answer to this question, so I hope someone here will be able to help out ^^ Students often say, "我有问题" when they want to say "I have a question." I will have them use "我有个问题" or "我有一个问题" instead.

The reason is because when I hear "我有问题", my immediate thought is "我脑子有问题" (I have some "mental" problems). But I can't explain this phrase in term of grammar, nor can I find an explanation online.

You know how sometimes when you keep on digging into the basic things, you end up confusing yourself? (Or maybe that is just me -_-). Anyways, now I am confused. So I want to ask: 1) "我有问题" is this correct at all? It sounds wrong no matter how I look at it. But, people use it on Baidu. Explain please?

Now, I know that "我有问题" is corrected (with no ambiguity) when used in the following sentences: 我有问题想问你。 你有问题的话， 去问老板。 ( Just a personal preference, I prefer to say “如果你有任何问题的话， 去问老板”）

2) I see a lot of "你有问题吗?" on Baidu. If it were me, I'd prefer to say "你有没有什么问题？“ But this sentence is fine with me as long as I don't view it from a negative perspective. What is your opinion on this?

Thank you. Cross posted on a different language forum.

Improve this question
3
  • there seems to be a contextual difference between 你有问题的话 and 我有问题. 你有问题的话: you might have one, or you might have several questions. So you can't specify with 个, and instead leave it general; adding 任何 makes that point clearer, but doesn't seem to be required. However in the case of 我有问题, as a declarative. You either do have one or several (我有(一/几)个问题). I'm also interested in that "我有问题吗？" definitely means "Do I have problems?" and not "Do I have a question?". I'm interested in this now too, so just spitballing, apologies if it's not apropos.
    – Master Sparkles
    Feb 17, 2015 at 1:44
  • I think both are fine.
    – Libécht Wang
    Feb 18, 2015 at 4:47
  • 如果我們把重音放在“問題”上那就確定地表示，腦子有問題，否則就算正常的，至少說中文的人不會誤解。“有個問題” 比較簡潔，讓我們把節奏改變一下，“有個” 兩個音節，變長了，不至少讓人誤解我們在強調“問題”。
    – Daniel Yang
    Mar 30, 2017 at 5:17

5 Answers 5

Reset to default
11

It's actually very common to say “我有问题”, and indeed it would cause ambiguity without contexts.

I think it's because 问题 could be both "question" and "problem". The ambiguity can only be cleared within the context.

Although ambiguous usage should be avoided when it's likely to create confusion (actually, eliminating ambiguity in sentences is a vey common practice on language classes in China, but it's not a very strict grammar requirement), this kind of situation is very common in Chinese because the language is an Analytic Language which depends heavily on contexts where English depends more on the inflection of words and grammar.

This reminds me another similar situation when I was learning English. I thought "I'm hot" in English technically could mean "I feel hot", but it seems that to avoid ambiguity, most people probably would say "it's hot" or "I feel hot".

Improve this answer
7
  • @PdotWang Thank you. I just threw that in to the mix to show the different approaches different language take when facing similar situation. But if you have better examples in Chinese I'd love to added it in there. For now nothing has came to my mind yet.
    – user1228520
    Feb 17, 2015 at 14:33
  • 2
    先生回家晚了.他开始吃饭.太太问,饭热不热?先生说,不热.太太说,不热就热热吧?先生说,不热就是不用热.
    – PdotWang
    Feb 17, 2015 at 16:41
  • I now understand you better. Some words have multiple meanings and are possible to cause arbitrariness. English may use word formation and grammar to work it out. Chinese may use context instead. I corrected my opinion.
    – PdotWang
    Feb 17, 2015 at 16:50
  • Twenty years ago "I'm hot" in English could be a natural way to say "I feel very warm." Today "hot" is too widely used in another sense.
    – Colin McLarty
    Feb 18, 2015 at 21:07
  • @ColinMcLarty Thank you, it's good to know that. I guess this kind of situations don't really have an absolute right and wrong in terms of grammar. It's more a user preference thing.
    – user1228520
    Feb 19, 2015 at 3:39
3

An actual situation is this,

老师问,谁有问题? 学生答,我有问题.

That is perfectly Ok.

Improve this answer
3

I think the most important thing is to consider your CONTEXT. Because 我有问题 is just a too general saying. It would indicate many different meanings in different situations.

If you mean your student wants to ask you a question. I think 我有个问题 is much better.

Improve this answer
2

"我有问题": "I have problem." It's a wrong way of saying "I have a problem with ..." It simply means "I'm problematic" or "I, as a person, has problem mentally/physically/verbally etc."

"我有个问题": "I have a problem/question." This simply is putting across a statement to another party seeking help or simply stating that I have issue or question on hand and I would like to put forth for help.

Improve this answer
2
  • OP knows that... OP wants to know why 我有问题 can't seem to mean "I have a question"
    – Master Sparkles
    Feb 17, 2015 at 2:13
  • 1
    我有问题 is a rather colloquial statement. It's not wrong in using it in daily conversation (as many people don't speak Mandarin using the correct sentence structure), but it's not right in that you should be saying "I have a question" or "I have questions" as "我有个问题" or "我有几个问题" respectively. Missing of the articles/量词 would just alter the meaning of the statement. Hope this helps.
    – sgchecker
    Feb 17, 2015 at 2:23
-1

In general,when people ask:谁有问题？ you can answer：我有问题 or 我有个问题 。 but,When no one asked,and you need help.you can use the:我有个问题Rather than 我有问题.ok，This is my understanding.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.